The Chaos Chronicles: Awakening
by The Helios Spirit
Summary: Post-HoO. David Johnson was unique. Claimed by a god nobody knew, with powers never seen before, and abilities that rivaled those of Achilles himself, he was both feared and admired by both gods and demigods. When a prophecy calls, he hand-picks a team of elite heroes to save Olympus from a new threat, facing new enemies... and a past of death. Rated T/M for language and blood.
1. Prologue

Prologue

_April 22__nd__, 1996 – 15 years before the Battle of Gaia and Greece_

Silence. Even in the middle of the Nevada desert, the silence was respected when night fell upon the land. However, in a large chamber, almost 40 stories underground, the deepest and most secret lab of Area 51 had no respect for it. Doctors and Lab Technicians hurried about, preparing 200 Gigabyte computers **(AN: in those days, people had to pay A LOT of money to get 100 megabytes)**, medical machines, and other pieces of equipment that surrounded a 10-foot-tall metallic cylinder in the middle of the chamber.

Dr. Walker knew that this project was daring, but he was worried that the subject wouldn't survive. After all the technology available could barely handle the equipment! Still, if this worked, they would lead the world into a new era, and a glorious one at that.

The project was simple: create a fresh and clean strand of human DNA, and combine it with the FO's – Foreign Organism – Genetic Code. And yet, it was not as simple as it sounded. True, the differences between the two species were less than those between the human and the chimpanzee. The problem lied in the fact that Humanity simply did not have the technology to do such a daring step into the future.

Dr. Walker was torn out of his thoughts by the now-familiar sounds of alarms blaring through the lab. _System overload. System Overload. Evacuate immediately._ The tired Doctor sighed as he grabbed his coat and briefcase with all of his data; he would need it later to start again from scratch. _If _the project was refunded.

And _if _he was still alive.  
….

_December 28__th__, 1999 – 12 years before the Battle of Gaia and Greece_

"No, no, and no again, Walker! This project has cost the United States Government too much funding! We have mass panic on the streets, people think it's the end of the world and it's because of you and your experiment!"

"Please sir, the results of last time were promising, we just need-"

"More time and more money, yes, I know, but I'm afraid that we cannot spare any of both! This project is officially scrapped!" And with that, President Bill Clinton shut the plastic folder with a snap and handed it back to the crestfallen Doctor.  
…

_January 10__th__, 2002 – 9 years before the Battle of Gaia and Greece_

"And you are sure that you can produce viable results that shall benefit the US military and protect our nation?"

"I do, Mr. President."

"Well then, congratulations Dr. Walker. Project Johnson is ago. You just got your job back."


	2. Meeting Kelly

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

Chapter 1 – David

Managing a handgun is pretty simple. You point it at your target, and squeeze the trigger (squeeze, not pull nor yank). If you haven't gotten the desired effect, squeeze again and again until you get what you want. When you want to reload, just eject the mag from the gun, grab a fresh one, and insert it into the gun. If the gun is locked, just squeeze the trigger to cock it once more and to load a bullet into the chamber. Like I said, it's a pretty simple concept.

Something that's not so simple: being chased by…. things, while running with a limp in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, loaded with a ski-bag that's filled with different guns and types of ammo. And believe me, that bag is fucking heavy. Oh, and did I mention that I'm also trying to aim a double-barrel shotgun at the things behind me while I worried about Kelly? Not cool. Not cool at all.

What got me into this situation, you may ask? There's only one answer for that one: being in the fucking wrong place, at the fucking wrong time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I mean, where are my manners? Let me backtrack a little bit so that I can introduce myself.

Hi, my name is David Johnson. I was born _, 1996, in the pleasant country of _, my parents are _ and _, and I'm on the run. No, the blanks aren't a printing or typing error. I actually don't know. What I do know is that I'm 16 years old, and that for some godforsaken reason the United States Government wants me dead, or better yet, captured. Also, my memory loss and/or lack of knowledge about my past extends until I was 10 years old. The oldest memory that I can recall to the front of my mind is waking up in an empty hospital, with dead bodies strewn across the hallways. Oh, and did I mention that not one of those bodies was a doctor or a nurse? Since then, I've been running.

But enough about my past. Let's talk about my present. Like I said before, I've been running for about 6 years. Yesterday, however, I had to add a new group to my "have-to-avoid-or-kill-at-all-costs" list. Wow, yesterday was one hell of a day….  
…

I stopped running. I looked up at the sun, and judging from its position, it was about 4 o'clock. I decided to head towards the nearest forest and set up camp while there was still some daylight left. Plus, I wanted to get my bearings; the last time I saw a sign that said the state was about a few months ago, and it said Wyoming. And I can tell you right now, that I am not in Wyoming. Still, I kinda missed the cold. I think the month was around June or July. Summer. Figures.

Anyways, back to the story. Since I had stopped, I decided to see if I could hear any cars so that I could find a road. I locked my muscles, and focused my mind only on what I could hear. After a few seconds, the sound of traffic reached my ears. Smiling to myself, I turned north towards the sound, readjusted the shoulder strap of my bag, and started jogging; the highway sounded a few miles in that direction.

About 20 minutes later, I was at the highway. I looked both sides, looking for a sign of sorts that could tell me where the hell I was. Spotting it, I walked towards it, and when I was close enough, I could discern its meaning. According to it, I was in Staten Island. _Perfect_, I thought to myself, _I've always wanted to visit Manhattan._ I could see that the highway split further down. According to the sign, to the right was Brooklyn, but straight on was Elizabeth, and then Manhattan. Frowning, I checked my money supply. I still had about 2000$ left, so I decided to head towards Brooklyn and crash in a hotel. The thought of sleeping in a bed and having a shower made me giddy with anticipation. Sadly, fate was against me that day, but I don't regret it.

I made it into Brooklyn around 8, and I walked into a hotel about 30 minutes later. It wasn't bad, being a 3 star hotel, but it would do just fine. I headed towards the front desk, which was being managed by an employee that was reading and listening to music. I cleared my throat to call his attention and he looked up. When he saw me, he raised an eyebrow, put the book and the iPod down, and said "Welcome to the Pointe Plaza hotel, how can I help you this evening?"

"I would like to rent a room, just one night. One bed only" I said. He checked his computer, and after a few seconds, he said,

"Sir, the only rooms available have twin beds only, the rest is booked. For the night, that would cost you 125$, tax included."

Nodding my assent, I counted out the money and handed it to him. When he asked for my ID, I handed him an extra 50 dollars, which he eagerly took. I took the key, and thanking him, I walked towards the elevator. Once I was in my room, I but the bag on one of the beds, opened it, and took out some clean clothes. After taking a shower and donning my clean clothes, I decided to look for something to eat, and dispose of the old clothes; they were torn and dirty anyways. No wonder the clerk gave me that strange look. I pulled out one of my pistols from my bag, and put a sound suppressor on it after replacing the mag. Rule number one of being on the run: if you have a weapon, always, _always_, keep it on you. After checking the pistol, I put it in the back of my pants, grabbed the room key and the ruined clothes, and headed out of the room.

After eating in a McDonalds that was a few blocks away from the hotel, I remembered that I had to throw away the bag. Looking into an alley, I saw a dumpster, and headed towards it. Suddenly, I got a strange feeling, as if there was something dangerous. Rule number two: If you get a bad feeling, _get ready._ Pulling out my pistol, I started creeping towards the dumpster.

"Hello?" I called out, "is anyone there?"

No answer. I finally reached the dumpster, when I heard a growl behind me. And let me tell you, it was there, and it was LOUD. Whirling around with my pistol, I saw…. _What the fuck was that?_ I thought to myself. I could've sworn there was something behind me, but when I turned, there was nothing. After a few seconds, I relaxed somewhat, but my senses were still tingling, and the feeling of danger still hadn't left.

Suddenly, the lid of the dumpster banged open, and before I could react, a human-shaped blur jumped onto me. When my body hit the floor, my instincts kicked in, and the next thing I know, I'm half-crouched with my gun aimed towards the temple of the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. Midnight-black hair that reached to her waist. Vibrant green eyes that I could swear were looking into my soul. Perfect nose. Angular chin, with full, cherry-colored lips. Her Blue jeans and black t-shirt were ripped and dirty, but to me that only made her even more beautiful. Perfect waist. Long legs.

Sadly, the moment was ruined when I noticed she was holding a knife to my throat. After a few seconds without moving, we both removed our weapons and started talking:

"I'm sorry, I thought you were-"

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't looked before I-"

We stopped, and smiled at each other before I said, "Let's start over. Hi, my name's David Achilles Johnson," extending my right hand while I spoke.

"Kelly Esperanza Dunstan" she answered, and shook my hand.

"My Pleasure" was my answer. After a few seconds, I asked her, "So… what is a girl like you doing in a dumpster at 9 o'clock at night, in the middle of Brooklyn?"

Immediately she tensed, and she gripped her arm, which I noticed had a bloodstained bandage.

"Shit, you're injured. Uh, I have some supplies in my hotel room, you know, gauze, medicine, that type of stuff…"

She raised her eyebrow in response, and said, "You'd do that?"

"Of course! Look, I can imagine your situation, and believe me when I say that I can relate." I smiled at her, "plus, I really doubt that you'd want to spend the night inside a dumpster, now do you?"

She laughed, a twinkle in her eye as she did so. She nodded in agreement, and we headed towards the hotel after she pulled out a backpack from the dumpster. Once we were inside the room, I proceeded to grab the med-kit I had stashed in my bag. Kelly looked surprised at the amount of weapons inside, but didn't comment. After I cleaned and bandaged her wound (which was looked she had been clawed, I was surprised that she hadn't bled to death), she went into the bathroom to shower and change clothes. In the meantime, I decided to clean some of my guns.

When Kelly came out of the bathroom, I was oiling the double-barrel shotgun, which was one of my personal favorites, after the silenced full-automatic Berretta pistols. Also in the collection were an Accuracy International L155A3 sniper rifle and a modified M60 Machine gun, along with a few grenades. All the guns were on the table that was in front of the TV, except the shotgun, which was in my hands. As Kelly came out, I looked up, smiled at her, and finished putting the shotgun back together.

I noticed that Kelly looked wary of all the weapons on the table, so I reassured her, saying, "Don't worry, if I pull the trigger on any of these, I'll make sure that they're not pointed at you."

She laughed in response, and said with a smile, "No, no, it's just that… I'm curious on how to use them. Can you teach me?" I hesitated.

Now, I know that I had just met Kelly, so you may ask yourself, why does he trust her so much? She's asking you for a gun so that she can use on you, don't do it! Strangely, I didn't feel any worry, because I felt that I could trust Kelly with my life, and that she wouldn't do anything like that to me. Call me love-struck if you want, but it's the truth.

After a few moments, I smiled, and told her everything about the guns, how to clean them, how to load them, how to chamber the ammo…. She absorbed everything like a sponge. After I finished, I noticed that an hour had passed, so I asked her, "So, before we met, where were you headed, why were you headed there, and what gave you that cut?"

I was rewarded with silence. I looked at her and saw that she had visibly tensed, and my mind immediately went to the M60 that she had been loading in her hands. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes conveyed pain, fear, sadness, and… was that loss? Yes, definitely loss. I immediately regretted having brought up the subject, so I started to apologize, but she cut me off,

"No, you need to know, that is, if you really want to know?" She looked at me, her expression hopeful, but that vanished the next seconds and was replaced by her emotionless mask. I nodded, so she told me. She came from a finishing school in New Hampshire, where she had been attacked by a strange demon. However, a friend of hers saved her from the monster, and told her to make her way to Long Island, that someone would find her, and that they would take her somewhere safe. Also, something that she described as 'a big black dog with red eyes' had caught up to her somewhere in Massachusetts and given her the wound on her arm.

"…so when I saw you, I thought you were the person that I was supposed to meet." She finished telling me. I frowned, and after a few seconds of silence, I told her,

"Look, I believe you, but I'm not too sure if I'm the person you supposed to meet. I mean, before this, I was headed towards Manhattan, not Long Island, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to go with you. Plus, the monster thing? I'd have to see that for myself. But like I said, I'm going with you."

Next thing I know I was tackled in a hug, and I barely registered the fact that she was thanking me over and over again. Still, my mind was still working enough to pat her awkwardly in the back. After a few seconds, she pulled away, embarrassed and red in her face. I chuckled at her reaction, said "anytime" and gave the finishing touches to the guns. Noticing the time, I told her that we should get some sleep, since we would check out early the next day. She nodded in agreement, and we started to get up, when my leg cramped and I started to fall again. I immediately reached out to the nearest thing I could grab on to, which happened to be Kelly. We both fell, her on top of me.

"Oops, sorry" I said. When I didn't receive an answer, I looked at her and our eyes locked. It was as if time had stopped. All I could register was how close my face was to hers. Our faces moved closer, until our lips were almost touching, when I distinctly heard a sound that made me freeze. It was a sound that meant that something was about to go boom. And I heard it outside of the room.

It was the sound of a pin being pulled from a grenade, followed by the _tap_ of said grenade on the door of the room.

I didn't say anything; I just grabbed Kelly and flipped us so that she was under me, and covered her ears with my hands.

_BOOM!_

I felt the explosion, felt the heat pass over my back. My ears were ringing, and I raised myself on my elbows, and I looked around. The door was non-existent and all the remained was a hole that was surrounded by… _green fire?_ I immediately jumped up towards the M60 that was on the floor, used my foot to propel it into my arms, chambered it, and pulled the trigger just as three things came in slithering through the hole. Wait a second… _slithering?_ Before I could register anything, the first things' head exploded into what looked like golden dust as a round pierced it. Its arms flailed around, as if looking for its missing head, and fell backwards, dead. Two more followed, and then there was silence.

I looked at Kelly, who was writhing in pain on the floor, and my face paled as I saw the piece of wood that was lodged in her right foot. It must have gone in when the door exploded. I knew that this injury was out of my league to treat, which meant a trip to a local hospital. Not good.

I crouched next to her, my arms hovering over her. I could hear the screams of other people from other rooms through the hole, and from the window came the sound of sirens. I told her, "I can't treat that, and we have to move. How's your other leg?"

"I can limp with a little help" was what she said. I nodded, packed up the guns, med kit and her pack into the ski-bag except for the Berettas, and slung the bag on my right shoulder. I helped her stand, slung her arm over my shoulder. "Let's get you to a hospital" I said, gave her one of the pistols, cambered mine, and we walked (or in Kelly's case, limped) out of the room.  
…..

Needless to say, we weren't able to get to the hospital. When we exited the hotel, we were immediately attacked by huge dogs that fit Kelly's description of what had wounded her before I had met her, so we ran. We followed signs that pointed towards Long Island, and eventually we exited the city. As soon as I saw a forest, I veered towards it, and entered it. By then, Kelly was half conscious, so once we were deep enough inside the forest, I set her down, gently, pulled out some duct tape from my bag, and started to wrap her foot with it, when a voice came from behind me, making me whirl,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, her foot could get infected" was what the girl dressed in camouflage pants, death-to-Barbie T-shirt, silver parka, and combat boots said. Either she hadn't noticed the pistol aimed at her head or she was ignoring it. Still, I doubted that is was the first one, which meant that she must have friends.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She narrowed her eyes, and said, "My name is Thalia Grace, and I'm your present nightmare unless you aim that somewhere else." As soon as she finished talking, a lot, and let me say, _a lot_, of girls dressed in similar outfits stepped out of the woods, surrounding us, and holding bows and arrows… that were aimed at me. _Oh… I am so fucked, _was all I could think.

**AN: First contact with the Greek world achieved! Too bad the Hunters are there… well, R&R, please!**


	3. The Hunters, and a quest of sorts

**AN: I would like to thank The weeknd for being my first reviewer, and I would also like to thank briodeo97 and Aaerron for being my first subscribers to my story! To represent my thanks, here's chapter 2.**

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

Chapter 2 – David

You could say that my life had some pretty fucked up events. I had been on the run for 6 years. When I was 10, I woke up in an empty hospital that was filled with dead CIA and NSA guards. _And_ no less than an hour ago, I had just been attacked by some creatures that looked like women with snake legs, along with dogs the size of pickup trucks. So I was pretty unsurprised when the girls with bows and arrows showed up.

That is, until their leader shocked the shit out of me. From over 10 feet away.

"Yeow!" I screamed, "What the he- heck was that for? And where did that come from"

"You kept pointing the gun at me when I asked you to point it somewhere else." She said, smirking while putting a hand on her hip. I scowled in response.

"Look, I don't care what you want, who you are, or what the fuck you're doing here. All I know is, that this girl is injured, and badly at that, and I can't heal her." I said, pointing at Kelly, who at this point was now unconscious, "So could you please stop aiming those bows and arrows at me, and help her? Because at this point, I'm desperate enough to assume that you can help her, and her foot, more than I can."

After a few seconds of silence, the girl, Thalia, did a motion with her hand, and the girls started to put their bows away and head back into the forest. I could see that some of them took a little bit longer in doing so, while scowling at me. I let out a sigh of relief, even though I knew that the present situation could change for the worse if I wasn't careful. Joy.

Three of the girls separated from the rest, and headed towards me, one holding a med kit, and the other two carrying a stretcher. _Where did that thing come from?_ I thought, _As if from thin air… Focus David, focus!_ I bent over, pulled my Berretta out of Kelly limp hand, and checked her pulse. It was ok, so I decided to move away, taking the gun with me.

"What caused that injury?" One of the girls carrying the stretcher asked me.

"Green Fire grenade blasted our hotel room door. Shrapnel from the door." Was all I said. The girl looked satisfied with my answer, and started tending to Kelly. When the three girls started heading away with Kelly on the stretcher, I started to follow them, but somebody else had a different idea.

"Hey kid," I turned, and looked at Thalia, "follow me, somebody wants to talk to you." She turned, and without waiting to see if I was following her, moved into the forest. Seeing that I had no choice, I picked up my bag and followed. After two minutes, we emerged in a different clearing, where the girls had pitched tents and ignited fires. I looked around, surprised. _They must have been here for a while, no way that this camp was just set up…_ I thought.

"Well, are you coming, or are you going to spend the rest of the night gawking at a campsite?" said Thalia without looking at me. I scowled at her back, but followed her nevertheless to the biggest tent in the campsite. When we reached it, Thalia motioned for me to wait.

"Speak only when spoken to, and when you do speak, be careful with what you say. The wrong words could have the wrong effect. Oh, and leave the pack out here." I nodded in acknowledgement, and Thalia opened the flap and went in. I followed after depositing my bag next to the flap.

The inside of the tent was not what I expected; the inside was warm and comfortable. Silk rugs and pillows covered the floor. In the center, a golden brazier of fire seemed to burn without fuel or smoke. The walls were hung with animal pelts: black bear, tiger, and several others I didn't recognize. And sitting in the middle, with Thalia next to her, was an auburn-haired girl, with yellow grey eyes, who looked no younger than thirteen years old.

As soon as I saw her, I felt strange. In the six years of my life that I can remember, I had been the prey to others. Others, that when they caught up to me, became the hunted, and I their hunter. It was a strategy that had kept me alive, and I had perfected it to the point that they would find me only when I wanted them to find me. However, as soon as this girl looked at me, I felt exposed, weak, anxious, and fearful; I felt the emotions of the prey that knew his doom. I immediately tensed, even though I knew that if I ran, it would be hopeless. Still, my body was preparing itself for the flight… or the fight.

"So, the hunter feels hunted, I see…" the girl said, "but do not worry, since you have a good by helping that maiden, you have nothing to fear from me. Come, join us." Now, I've heard the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover' before, but this was the first time I took it for granted. Somehow, I knew that I was danger, and that the source of danger was her, even if she was saying otherwise. Still, manners are manners… even if I read them from a book that was written in the 18th century.

"Thank you… ma'am" I said, bowing my head a little, and sat across her. I could see that Thalia gave me a strange look, but it vanished after a moment.

"My name is Artemis, Greek goddess of the Hunt. You have already met my Lieutenant, Thalia Grace. What is your name?"

"David Johnson, ma'am." After a few seconds, I asked, "Forgive me for my ignorance, but you mentioned that you were- I mean, _are_ a goddess. Problem is… what _is_ a goddess?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I could tell that it was the wrong thing to say. Thalia leapt up, but Artemis said with a surprised tone, "He means no disrespect. He truly means what he asks…"

Thalia looked incredulous, but sat down once more, muttering under her breath. Artemis looked at me, and said "David, tell me your story. Tell me your life."

So I told her. Once I had finished, both Artemis and Thalia looked… impressed? Surprised? I didn't know, but looking into their eyes, I knew that they believed me, and I was thankful for that. After I finished, there was silence in the tent.

"Have you had any strange dreams? Dreams about things that have happened in the past or that will happen? Dreams in which you feel out of control?" asked Thalia.

I shook my head, and said, "I don't dream at all." Thalia nodded, and turned to Artemis, "He needs to go to camp and talk to either Chiron or Percy. Jason could help, but he's in Camp Jupiter."

Artemis nodded, "I agree. David, how do you feel about going on a mission of sorts?"

"To get my memory back? I'll do it, but what about Kelly? Also, you still haven't explained about the goddess thing, My Lady" Artemis laughed in response.

"All in due time, young hero. But first, you must go to Camp Half-Blood. It is here, on Long Island, but I cannot interfere in your journey. Kelly, however, is a different matter. Since she is injured, she cannot accompany you, but the Hunters and I will take her to Camp Half-Blood. We will wait for you there. Good luck, David Johnson"

I nodded, and sensing that the conversation was over, I stood and walked out of the tent. I stretched and looked around; it was sundown, meaning that I had spent the entire day and part of the night talking to Artemis. I scowled, and started thinking on where I was supposed to go and what I had to do before I left the Hunters campsite.

I was picking up my pack from where I had left it, when Thalia emerged from the tent. That was when I remembered the most important thing I had to do.

"Thalia," I said, "could you take me to Kelly? I would like to talk to her before I leave…" Thalia nodded, and motioned for me to follow.

Thalia led me to a tent identical to the rest, and said, "I'll wait for you out here, once you're done, I'll give you directions to the Camp." I nodded, thanking her, and went in.

Kelly was asleep on a cot, her foot bandaged. The Hunter that was sitting on a stool next to her scowled when she saw me, but I ignored her, and approached Kelly. I wasn't going to wake her, since she looked so peaceful, so I turned to the Hunter.

"How is she?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"She woke up about an hour after we found you, but fell asleep soon after. Her wound has been bandaged, but it'll take a couple of days before it fully heals."

"Days? Don't you mean weeks?"

"Ambrosia and Nectar. Food of the gods. It can cure a half-blood's injuries, but too much can burn them from the inside out."

_And know I have no idea what she's talking about. But, she knows what she's doing…_ I nodded, thanked her, and exited the tent.

Thalia was sitting on the ground, polishing a silver bow. She looked up when I approached her, and the bow vanished. I blinked, but didn't comment; it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened so far. Thalia stood, dusted herself off, and motioned for me to follow. By then, the sun had vanished behind the horizon.

Once we reached the edge of the clearing, she turned to me, and said, "Ok. Go to the road and start following it, heading deeper into the island. When you see a bare hill with a lone pine tree at the top, start climbing it. Camp Half-Blood will be on the other side."

I nodded, and crouched, opening my bag as I did so. When Thalia saw the guns, she scoffed, and said under her breath "boys". I chuckled and reloaded my guns, except for the sniper rifle. The L115A3 and M60 I left in the bag, but the Berettas I put in the back of my pants (without the silencers), and the shotgun I slung on my right shoulder. Putting my bag on my left, I turned to Thalia, thanked her for everything, and turned to leave, when Thalia told called me back.

"David," I looked at her, "your guns are made to fire lead, but that'll only piss monsters off, since they can't die unless they come in contact with celestial bronze or imperial gold. So if you get a chance, use this." She tossed me a sheathed dagger, which I caught. It was small, about 6 inches long, but it would do.

"Good luck" I looked up, but Thalia was already gone at that point. I put the sheath on my belt. By then, it was dark, so I started to head for the road. Little did I know that I was in for one hell of a ride.  
….

And now we've made the full circle. Before I made it to the road, a Hellhound attacked me, and managed to slice at my leg. I managed to kill it with my Berettas and the knife, but now I was wounded. Thank goodness it wasn't that deep, but it hurt.

Once I made it to the road, the game changed. Monsters attacked. I killed them and kept moving. Monsters attacked. I killed them and kept moving. Most of the time I only used my guns, but every now and then I managed to stab one, killing it permanently. Still, I didn't like pushing my luck, and I was running out of ammo, so most of the time I just tried to avoid them.

Suddenly, lightning flashed granting me a little light. Woods. Road. No monsters. And in the distance, the silhouette of a pine tree.

Just then, a group of about 10 monsters decided to attack. I tried to fend them off from afar, but my Berettas chose that exact moment to run out of ammo. Cursing, I put them back in the bag, grabbed my double barrel, and ran, ignoring the pain in my foot. Monster that came close, monster that got two shotgun rounds at the same time in the face. Sadly, that forced me to reload every time I fired, but it held them off.

When I was about half a mile away from the hill, it started raining. _Oh, come on, give me break!_ I turned and shot my last two rounds at the last monster. However, I could see that there was another group about a mile away, and at the rate they were running, they would catch up to me. I put the double barrel in the bag and pulled out a couple of concussion grenades and my M60.

The first monster caught up to me when I was at the base of the hill. I fired, and it disintegrated after I stabbed it with Thalia's knife. Sheathing my knife, I grabbed a concussion, pulled the pin, and threw it towards the monsters, covering my ears and turning away. I saw the flash, but since I was looking away, it didn't blind nor faze me. The same could not be said for the monsters. I fired blindly while I ran up the hill, and was rewarded with a few sounds of pain. Suddenly, I slipped and fell on the wet grass, the M60 slipping from my grip. By then the monsters had recovered from the concussion, and I could tell that they were not pleased.

I pulled out my last gun: the L115A3. Long range, it was amazing, but close range could be a problem if you don't know how to use it. Thankfully, I had already gotten my license. And since I had it with an ACOG scope, it would do just fine for close range. I continued dragging myself up the hill, while simultaneously trying to aim the rifle.

_Bang._ Monster down. _Bang._ Another one bites the dust. And so it went. When the mag ran out, I reloaded. Unfortunately, there were too many of them, and one of them managed to knock the rifle from my hands.

"Time to die, _Hero_" the snake lady said. I recognized it as the one I shot in the hotel in Brooklyn.

"Fuck you" I said, pulled out my knife, and stabbed her. She exploded in gold dust and noxious fumes. _Two more… the last two hijos de puta,_ I thought. A Hellhound and a snake lady. And they were between me and the pine tree. Glorious. Still, I was going to make to the other side, dead or alive. So I stood up, looked at them with hate in my eyes, and did something unexpected.

I pulled the pin on a concussion grenade and threw it at my feet.

When they were blinded, I rushed the Hellhound, since in my opinion it was the bigger threat, and stabbed it through the neck. It melted into the shadows, dead. By then, the snake lady had recovered, so when I turned, it was ready for me.

The duel was short. The thing knocked the dagger out of my hand after about 30 seconds, and racked its claws on both my arms and my chest in one swipe. I fell, screaming in pain. The thing quickly put one of its snake legs on me, holding me down. I looked at it, and it smiled, revealing fangs and pointed teeth that dripped with poison.

"It's over… though I'll admit that you gave us a run for our money" As it was speaking, I felt something metallic touch my hand. I grabbed it, and felt a surge of hope. It was the dagger's hilt! I smiled and looked at the creature, which was confused at my smile.

"And guess what… do your friends a favor, and tell them that David Johnson sent you on a one-way trip to Hell, bitch!" I screamed, plunging the dagger into its… leg, I suppose, forcing it to get off me. Pulling it out, I scrambled up and kicked her chest, and when it fell, I jumped at it and stabbed it, right between the eyes, killing her.

Thankfully, as if it was waiting for the demon's death, the rain stopped, and the sun started to rise. My small surge of strength left me soon after, so I fell once more onto the ground. _No,_ I thought, _I made it this far, so I am sure as hell not going to die before I make it_. Rolling onto my stomach, I plunged the dagger into the earth, and used it to pull myself up the hill, ignoring the pain.

After what seemed an eternity of agony, I was past the tree, and since the hill sloped downwards, I decided to roll down the hill. When I made it to the bottom, I started to black out to the sounds of kids screaming for a medic and the sight of the sunrise. The last thing I heard was the most beautiful voice say "Welcome home."

And I knew no more.

**Done at last. Let me say that I enjoyed writing this chapter. Thank you, and R&R, please!**

**The Helios Spirit.**


	4. Being Kelly for a while

**No internet for 2 and a half days… believe me, it sucked :/ Still, I'm delivering. Please read the Author's Note at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: PJO and HoO belong to Rick Riordan, and all OC's belong to me.**

Chapter 3 – Kelly

_Prepare yourself, my daughter. _The female voice seemed to come from all around me, but it was soothing and kind, like a mother speaking to her child.

_Prepare myself for what? And where am I? _I looked around, not making any sense of my surroundings. There was a strange fog everywhere, and it was so thick that I could barely see my outstretched hands.

_We are in your mind, my dear. A dream._ At her words, the fog dissipated, revealing a beautiful valley filled with different crops, with the sun setting in the background. However, I still could not see the source of the voice.

_Why'd you call me your daughter?_

_All in due time, my dear. But now, you must wake, for our time grows short._ At her words, the valley started to disappear, fading back into the fog.

_Wait! What's your name? And what is it that I have to prepare myself for?_

_Be ready… _The dream faded, and I woke up, breathing heavily.

"Ah… so the sleeping beauty's finally awake." I turned towards the voice, and saw a boy dressed in an orange T-shirt that had CAMP HALF-BLOOD printed in bold letters on the front and blue jeans sitting next to me. He looked around 17 years old, and he had a bow slung on his shoulder. Looking around at the room I was in, I noticed that it was pretty bare, with only the bed I was laying on, the stool, and a dresser being the pieces of furniture of the room. There wasn't even a window, but that was good in this case, since I could hear a thunderstorm, and let's just say that lightning makes me slightly jumpy.

"Where am I?" I asked the boy. He smiled,

"You're in the infirmary of Camp Half-Blood, inside the Big House. You've been out about a day or so. My name's Will Solace. I'm the… head doctor, you could say, of the camp. Now, if you'll excuse me, someone wants to talk to you." I nodded, and he left, leaving me to contemplate what he said. Camp Half-Blood? What did the name mean? Before I could figure it out, the door opened once, and a man in a wheelchair came in. He had a kind face, with brown curly hair and eyes that could've been a thousand years old.

"Good morning, child. My name is Chiron. How do you feel?" he said.

"Pretty good actually. My foot doesn't hurt anymore, which is a relief." I smiled at him. He smiled back, but it disappeared quickly, and was replaced with a frown.

He sighed, "Child, I know you must have questions, and I will try my best to answer them, but first I must explain a few things to you. Can your questions wait until then?" I nodded in response, and he continued, "What do you know of the Greek gods? Specifically, what do you know of their children?"

"I've read mythology before, but it never interested me for some reason. Why do you ask, sir?" He took a deep breath.

"What if I told you all that was real?"  
…

Chiron told me everything: how mythology wasn't mythology, but history; how the Greek gods were actually here, in America; how they continued their habits of coming down to earth and having children, and that I was one of their children. I thought he was joking, that is, until he got out from his wheelchair and revealed the rest of his white-colored horse body. It took a while, but it all finally sunk in. He also explained the camp to a certain extent: a safe haven for all children of the gods, or demigods, and that they could live year-round or just spend the summer.

At the moment, Chiron and I were sitting on the porch of the 'Big House', as he'd called it. I had woken up a few hours before dawn, but with the entire conversation that we had had, there was no way I was going to sleep. Plus, there had been a thunderstorm, although it hadn't rained inside the camp. By now the thunderstorm had dissipated, and the sun was starting to rise.

After Chiron told me everything about the gods, he asked me to tell him my story, and I had just finished doing that. He was back in his wheelchair, making him look like an ordinary old man who had seen a lot in his life. Of course, being the trainer of Hercules, Jason, Achilles, etc., he _had_ seen a lot in his life. He looked like he was deep in thought, so I looked around, trying to distinguish the different parts of the camp.

It was beautiful. From here, you could see a dinner pavilion, an amphitheater, and a cluster of different looking cabins. I tried to count the cabins, but I was too far away. Still, the view was incredible. I started to wonder what it would be like to spend every summer here.

_What would David think about this place…?_ I froze. I barely knew him, and here I was, wondering what he would think? Still, I started to think about him, how he looked, how he talked, how nice he was to me… I sighed.

"You remind me of someone." Chiron's voice drew me from my thoughts. "Someone who lived here for almost 12 years… She visits very often, though. But before she lived here, she had run away from her home. She was 7. Thank the gods she found friends who took care of her, and eventually brought her to camp. But whenever she started to think, it was obvious in her expression, especially if she was thinking about something troubling to her. And it is an expression that you are wearing. Tell me, child, what troubles you?"

I blinked, surprised. _He's good… but then again, he _does_ have over two thousand years of experience._

"Everything," I said, "the gods, this camp, my life… but I'm mostly worried about David. I mean, I know that I met him two days ago, but I'm still worried about him. Where is he?"

He chuckled at my question, "Child, most of the time, when people meet under similar circumstances that you two did, they form a strong bond of friendship almost immediately. It is normal for you to be worried for him, even if you have only known him for less than a day."

"That doesn't answer my question." I didn't really mean to be so harsh, but I was really worried.

"True. Lady Artemis, goddess of the Moon and Hunt, explained part of his situation to me when she and her Hunters came. Since the Hunters have sworn off men, he was not welcome within their camp. The only reason that he was spared from the fate that most men who see the Hunters camp receive, was that he was protecting you. That, in Lady Artemis' eyes, was enough to spare him from certain death, although he is not the first to receive that judgment. Indeed, he was allowed into their campsite, but that did not mean that he could travel with them.

"Artemis explained this to him, and he agreed to let them heal you and left, making his own way to Camp. On Artemis' orders, of course. If there was any other reason for David's quest of sorts, Artemis didn't say, but I fear that fate has much in store for him. For both of you, in fact."

"Why me?" I asked.

"I cannot say without more information. It is best not to make any assumptions at this point. For now, we should enjoy the sunrise and the new day that Apollo brings us." He pointed, and I saw that he was right; the sun was rising, and it was beautiful.

Fate ruined the moment.

As soon as the sun had risen completely, there was a scream from a camper who was pointing towards the hill. I looked over to where she was pointing, and what I saw made my face pale. There, standing next to the enormous pine tree, was a bloodied figure. The worst part was that I recognized him.

It was David.

As if it was cued, he fell over, and rolled down the hill, leaving a trail of blood that glistened, even from here. Chiron immediately leaped up from his chair and pulled me onto his back, and started running (or galloping, whatever you prefer) towards David, who was now lying on his back at the bottom of the hill. Kids had grouped around him, screaming for a medic, but they parted the way for Chiron. I jumped down from his back, ignoring the confused and surprised looks from the rest of the campers, and crouched next to David, hovering protectively over him.

I felt myself paling even more (if that was even possible) as I looked at his injuries. He had a huge gash on his torso that was bleeding profusely, along with numerous scratches on his arms and legs. He was shaking in pain, his eyes looking around, unfocused.

"Welcome home" I said. His eyes rolled back into his head in response, and he was still. I could've sworn my heart stopped. Chiron immediately picked him up in his arms and sped off with him towards the big house. I caught sight of Will Solace, the boy who had taken care of me, running towards me, carrying what looked like medical supplies in his arms.

"Will!" I called. When he looked at me, I pointed towards the Big House. He nodded in response, and took off, with me at his heels.

When I came into the Big House, there were two people in the living room, a boy and a girl holding hands. The boy was tall, with messy raven hair, and sea-green colored eyes. The girl was a little shorter than him, and had blonde hair and grey eyes. Both of them were tanned, and had mirroring expressions: worried and anxious. But as soon as they saw me, their expressions turned into surprise.

"New camper?" the girl asked. I nodded, and the boy said,

"I'm Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon, and this is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." They held out their hands, and I shook each one in turn.

"Kelly Dunstan," I said.

"When did you come?" asked Annabeth.

"Last night, though I was unconscious at the time. I was dropped off by the... Hunters of Artemis?" Annabeth gasped.

"The Hunters are here?" she asked.

"I guess…" before I could finish, she kissed Percy on the lips, and sprinted out of the room.

I must've looked surprised, because Percy laughed and said, "The lieutenant of the Hunters is a good friend of ours. They're almost sisters, they've been through so much together…" I nodded.

I asked him, "Do you know how David is?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "So that's his name, huh? Annabeth and I heard about him and how he came over the hill a mess, and we came here to check on him. So how do you… Actually, don't tell me; let's wait until Annabeth comes back." I nodded, and sat down on one of the couches. After a while, Annabeth came back, followed by a girl dressed in punk clothes, with electric-blue eyes and spiky black hair. There was a circlet in her hair as well, which clashed with her clothing style completely.

"Hey, good to see you again, and conscious this time" she said, grinning.

"Um, I don't…." She laughed.

"I know you don't know me, like I said, you were unconscious when we found you and David the night before last. I'm Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, and lieutenant to the Hunters of Artemis." I shook her hand.

"Kelly Dunstan, daughter of… no idea." I said. Percy frowned,

"Never heard of that god… So you've been claimed already?" Thalia and I looked at him, confused, while Annabeth groaned. Percy started laughing, and Thalia grabbed his shoulder. He recoiled violently, falling over the back of the sofa, and we started laughing at him.

"Hey, Thalia that hurt!" Thalia smiled evilly,

"That's what you get when you say stupid jokes in front of me." Percy grumbled under his breath while picking himself up from the floor. Percy turned to me,

"How about you tell us the story that you were going to tell me?"

"Smoot way to change the topic, Seaweed Brain, but at least it's a good change of topic." said Annabeth.

"Thank you, Wise Girl."

Thalia rolled her eyes at the two, but didn't comment.

I said, "Why don't we sit down? It took me about an hour to tell Chiron." Once we all did, I told them. A couple of times, it looked like Percy wanted to interrupt, but either Annabeth or Thalia would stop him with a glare, for which I was thankful. When I finished, all three of them were silent.

That is, until Annabeth broke the silence, "Kelly, you said that you came from a finishing school in New Hampshire… What was it called?"

Before I could answer, I saw Chiron in his wheelchair come into the room, his face emotionless. I stood up, and when the others saw who it was, they stood up as well.

I immediately started asking, "How is he? Is he going to be okay? How bad were his injuries? How long-"

"Relax, child, David is going to be fine. He's sleeping now, and Will shall watch over him. The only injury that was life-threatening was the gash on his chest, and that one has been taken care of. As for how long, by tomorrow he can be presented to the camp." I nodded, relaxing my shoulders that I hadn't noticed were tense in the first place. David was going to be okay. The world suddenly didn't seem so complicated.

**Author's Note: Finished at last! Ok, so I may update only once a week, you know, to get a chance to plan each chapter. Don't kill me!**

**Read and Review,**

**Helios Spirit**


	5. Waking up and playing with knives

**Disclaimer: I don't own- Oh, you get the idea.**

Chapter 4 – Waking up

_What. The. Fuck?_

I replayed the dream in my head… _What was that all about? I mean, I was Kelly… Did that really happen? Gods of Olympus… Did I just think that?_ Shaking my head, I looked once more at my surroundings. It was the same room that Kelly woke up in, if the dream was accurate. Same furniture, no windows… even the same kid, Will Solace, was here, though this time he was asleep, and he had a bow and quiver full of arrows lying next to him.

_I wonder what time it is…. _On cue, my stomach rumbled, and I instinctively clenched my muscles to suppress the sound. The habit of being silent was hard to kill, and I hoped that it would stay that way. Chuckling at my own antics, I got up from the bed without making any noise to avoid waking up Will.

I looked down, and saw that I was only wearing a pair of white shorts. My chest was completely bandaged, as were my arms. I stretched, happily realizing that nothing, absolutely nothing hurt: not my chest, not my arms, not even my badly healed left hand, which I had broken a few years ago, and always hurt after I woke up. I grinned, and moved away from Will to start my morning exercises.

As soon as I finished, my stomach rumbled again, and I decided to find some clothes and something to eat. I moved over to Will, but froze when an idea hit me. Snickering, I grabbed his bow and started to pull the string. Moving out of the way of possible harm by collision, I released the string. With the bow placed conveniently next to Will's ear.

The _twang_ sound that resulted made Will jump to his feet, looking around for the source of the noise. After I had finished laughing at his face, I said, "Ok, now my chest hurts", which made his face go from irritated, to confused, to surprise.

"Wait, it wasn't hurting at all?" he asked.

"Nope, not at all. I fact," I said, "I feel as if I was never injured in the first place. And don't look so surprised as to how I'm taking this wake-up call, it's not the first time I've woken up like this. Though it is the first in which I was perfectly healed." He raised an eyebrow in response.

"Hmm… I'm going to remove the bandages and check everything. Sit on the bed." I obliged, and he started to take off the bandages. "I'm Will, by the way, Will Solace" I knew this, of course, but no need to freak him out.

"David Johnson." He nodded in response and continued to unravel the bandages.

After a while, he sucked in a breath, and I noticed that the bandages had been removed. I looked at him, and saw that he was surprised. _Why?_ I looked down, and my reaction was pretty much the same as his.

Nothing. Absolutely nada. There was no blood, and no proof that there had been any wound on my chest in the first place. Any scars that I had had vanished, leaving untouched tan skin behind. My arms were the same.

"How?" I asked, to shocked to say more. When he didn't answer, I looked at him; he was obviously trying to find a way to answer, but was just as obviously failing. Finally he spoke,

"I don't know… I've seen Nectar and Ambrosia perform miracles in the hands of an expert, but this… Your wounds should've taken at least another day to finish healing! And on top of that, there would be a scar or something!" I frowned.

"Nectar and Ambrosia?"

"The food of the gods. In small amounts it can heal demigods, but too much can burn us up." I blinked as I remembered the conversation that Kelly had with what's-his-face in my dream. I nodded, since everything made sense now. Will however, took my nod as an 'I-have-no-fucking-idea-what-you're-talking-about' nod, so before he could ask, I interrupted him.

"Look, I know of the gods and the rest of the stuff that you're going to tell me, so can it." He looked at me, surprised, but his expression quickly turned to one of distrust.

"Do I want to know how?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm not you, so I can't tell you what you want or don't want to know, but it would be safe to assume that you would want to know." He blinked, and after a few seconds, shook his head.

"Oh great, another one…" before I could ask what he meant, he continued "You're probably a Son of Hermes, with your attitude. He and his children are known for pranks and mischief." I laughed in response, and took a deep breath.

"To answer your question, I had a dream. I won't tell you the specifics of this dream, but I'll tell you the important things: the Greco-Roman gods are real, in America, and they still hook-up with people like there's no tomorrow. Two wars have been repeated, which are the Titan and Giant Wars. If there's a next chapter, none of us know, so I would like to have some breakfast now. Oh, the odds of me being a demigod are pretty high, and to hide our world from the 'mortal world', monsters generate something called The Mist, which shields the senses of mortals and some demigods from the Greco-Roman world." I said all this in one breath. When I finished, I wasn't sure if Will's eyebrows could go any higher into his hair. After a while, he shrugged.

"Well, since you know pretty much everything, and you're completely healed, I'll personally escort you to the pavilion where we eat for breakfast."

"I feel flattered, monsieur." He narrowed his eyes, but let it pass. He handed me some clothes, told me where the bathroom was, and I left to change.

After taking a nice shower, I put on the blue jeans, black CAMP-HALF BLOOD T-shirt, and white high-top Converse shoes, and exited the bathroom. Will looked up when I came out, and he motioned for me to follow him. On the way out, I asked him about my ski-bag, since I hadn't seen it in the room.

"A couple of campers picked up your stuff from the Hill, so don't worry about it." He said.

"What about the dagger?"

"Found that too, it's in the bag."

"And the bag is… where?" He smirked.

"Already in the Hermes Cabin." I frowned. By now we were almost at the open-air pavilion.

"You mentioned Hermes and his kids being known for mischief… but isn't Hermes the god of thieves as well?"

"Yes." I stopped him at the entrance of the pavilion.

"There are weapons in that bag, including guns… and grenades, you realize that, right?" All the blood in his face drained, and I could feel myself paling as well.

"Oh… well, don't worry, I'll talk to Chiron about it before anything bad happens. I'll tell him that you're up and walking as well." I nodded, and walked into the pavilion. Will pointed where I was supposed to sit, told me who I was supposed to talk to, and, after thanking him, I followed his directions to a table that wasn't exactly crowded, but still had a lot of people sitting there. When I got there, I noticed that Kelly was there as well, which somehow made me self-conscious.

As if she could feel my gaze on her, she looked up, after she recovered from her surprise, she got up.

"David!" she exclaimed. I smiled and hugged her tightly.

"Good to know that you survived" I told her after we let go of each other. She punched me in the arm.

"Why? Were you worried?" she teased.

"Hmm… not really, no." That earned me another punch. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. By now, some of the people at the table were giving us strange looks. Looking around, I noticed that everybody at the table, excluding Kelly, had similar features: upturned noses and a look in their eyes that screamed 'don't trust me!'

I turned back to Kelly, "So I'm supposed to talk somebody called Travis Stoll… and since you've been at this for some time, could you tell me who he is?"

She pointed at one of the older people sitting at the end of the table. "That's him. Be careful around him though, I've been told that he and his brother, Conner, are the best thieves of the camp." _Is that right? _I thought, "They're not twins, but the only way to tell them apart is that Travis is taller."

"Thanks, and I'll be right back" I said. She nodded in response and sat back down. I walked over to where the two people were sitting. On the way, I filched a fork from the hand of the meanest-looking girl from the next table without her noticing. When I got to the one I assumed was Conner and gave him the fork, which still had a piece of suspicious looking-meat on it. He looked up at me, confused.

"Damn, you are one hell of a thief, I mean; you stole the fork from her hand without her noticing? And with the food still on it as well!" I said loudly, making the entire table and the girl in question look over.

"CONNER! YOU ARE DEAD MEAT!" _Success…_ I thought. Conner looked from me, to the fork, to the girl, and back at me. By then the girl had gotten up and was storming over, so I bent over to Conner.

"If I were you, I'd run" _Not, but since I'm not him…_ Apparently that got to him, and after he shot me a look that said 'I'll get you later', got up and ran out of the pavilion with the girl at his heels. I sat down where Conner had been, next to an individual that looked remarkably like him, except a little bit taller, and with an astounded expression.

"David Johnson" I said, extending my hand for him to shake. He blinked, and after shaking my hand, he smiled.

"Travis Stoll. And that was one hell of a prank you just did, though my brother and I'll have to get you back for that one."

"Thank you, and good luck. Listen, I'm new here, and I was told to talk to you, so anything special I have to do? Who do I not piss off, and are the seats assigned?" He grinned.

"Well, you have to sacrifice a part of your food to the gods over there," he pointed at a brazier that had a lit fire, "and you sit at your cabin's table, but since you're undetermined, you sit here, since Hermes is the god of travellers and he takes anybody. You are undetermined, right? Unclaimed?" I shook my head in response to his question, and he continued, "Ok, so the food's on the table, but when you get thirsty, grab your goblet and tell it what you want, as long as it's non-alcoholic. And no, I'm not joking" I thanked him, and got up to pick up a plate and food.

"Oh, and David?" I looked back at Travis, "the people that you don't piss off are the Ares Cabin, specifically Clarisse La Rue," He pointed at the table from where the girl whose fork I had stolen had been sitting, "and the camp director, Mr. D." He pointed at another table, where a pudgy man in a leopard-patterned Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and blood-shot eyes was sitting at. Standing next to him was the centaur from my dream, whose name I now remembered was Chiron. I turned back to Travis,

"And let me guess, the girl I pissed off was Clarisse La Rue?"

"Yep" he answered, popping the p. I grinned,

"Fun…" Chuckling at his expression, I headed back to Kelly, took the seat next to her after asking if it was empty, and started loading my plate with pancakes and eggs. Once I was done, I got back up, and headed towards the brazier.

_Who do I sacrifice to?_ I smiled, _Lord Hermes, thank you for having me at your table. Lady Artemis, thank you for bringing Kelly safely to Camp Half-Blood. And to… to Olympus, for giving me the chance to find out about my past._ As I was giving the prayer, I threw in half of everything I had put on my plate. I expected the smell of burnt food, but as the smoke drifted in my direction, there was no smell whatsoever. I frowned, but dismissed it; I figured the food wasn't going to burn immediately.

Turning back towards the Hermes table, I noticed the girl, Clarisse, come into the pavilion. I became slightly worried when Conner didn't come into the pavilion, but I figured he'd keep his distance from her for a while, so I kept walking towards the Hermes table. It wasn't until I sat down that Conner decided to come back into the pavilion, but he headed towards the table where Will was sitting at. Looking at Connor's face, I could see why he needed a healer. I smirked, and turned back to my food and talked to Kelly while eating.

When everybody had finished, Chiron stamped his hoof on the floor, and silence took over the pavilion. The pudgy man Travis had called Mr. D stood up.

"Well, I suppose I have to say hello to you brats. Hello to you brats. There you go. Our activities director, Chiron, tells me that in honor for the return of Peter Johnson and Annabelle Choose to camp Jupiter as Ambassadors, there will be a Capture-the-Flag game on Friday, 3 days from now." Mr. D stopped, as Chiron whispered something to him while the campers cheered, "Er, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, Ambassadors of New Rome and New Greece." He corrected. "Personally, I wouldn't care less, but good luck on your return to New Rome."

At his words, the two teens I had seen in my dream stood up from their tables, as the cheering intensified. I could tell that both of them were embarrassed by the attention, judging from their red faces. After a while, the cheering subsided, and Mr. D continued.

"Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers, Carey Dust and Drew Jackson."

Again, Chiron murmured something.

"Sorry, Kelly Dunstan and David Johnson" Mr. D corrected again, not sounding sorry at all. "Welcome and all that, hurrah. Now everybody to your morning activities" he finished, sitting back down. Everybody started to get up and leave the pavilion to god knows- sorry, god_s_ know where.

The rest of the morning passed without anything extraordinary happening. Our first activity of the day was Archery, and it was taught by Will Solace. I found out that I was pretty good at Archery. Not Apollo cabin good, mind you, since they could split their own arrows from 50 feet away. But not bad, all my hits were either bull's-eyes or close. I still preferred the sniper rifle though. Kelly wasn't as good as I was, since none of her hits were Bull's-eyes, but she didn't miss a single target.

After Archery, we had Ancient Greek and Latin, with the Athena Cabin. I could read both languages perfectly, as if I had spent my entire life reading in those two languages instead of English or Spanish. When they tested me in speaking, the same thing happened, which surprised me as well as everybody else. Kelly was fluent in Ancient Greek, but was Latin was much more difficult for her.

After a while, we continued to our next class, which was foot racing. Again, I was the star, since I could outrun everybody else (you get a lot of practice when on the run for 6 years). When I raced against the wood-nymphs, my winning streak was gone, but I managed to give them a run for their money. According to them, they had centuries of practice running away from love-sick gods, satyrs, and other nature spirits. Go figure.

The day was ruined for me after lunch. Our next class was sword-fighting, something that had me anxious. I had had bad experiences with knives in the past, and I was pretty sure that my bad luck would extend to their longer counterparts. Still, I kept my fingers crossed and my hopes up.

When we got to the arena, we were greeted by our companions for the next two classes: the Ares Cabin. I could see the fork-girl, Clarisse, already hacking at practice dummies with a sword in her left hand and a spear in her right. I'll admit it, the sight made me understand why she was to be avoided at all costs. Poor dummies…

I was broken from my thoughts by Kelly, who pointed at the ambassadors from earlier this morning, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. They were standing in the center of the arena, Percy holding a bronze-colored sword in his right hand, Annabeth with a knife instead of a sword.

"Good afternoon, everyone. For the two new campers, my name is Percy Jackson, and this is Annabeth Chase. We'll be your sword and knife instructors for the next week." Percy said. Annabeth continued his speech,

"Okay, everybody find a partner, and pick out your weapons from the racks over there." She said, pointing at the far end of the Arena, where a few swords, spears, and other weapons had been stacked. "Kelly Dunstan and David Johnson come over here please." Kelly and I walked over to Annabeth. When we reached her, both Percy and Annabeth looked us over, Percy with curiosity, Annabeth calculating.

"Well, Kelly we already met earlier today, so no need for introductions with her. Still, that doesn't mean we haven't heard of you, David." Said Percy, "I think you set the record for the bloodiest entrance into camp Half-Blood"

"Seaweed Brain!" exclaimed Annabeth.

"What, it's true!" Annabeth rolled her eyes at him and turned to us.

"Don't mind him; he's a little overdramatic sometimes."

"Hey!"

"It's ok, I saw my own entrance, and I think that Percy made the understatement of the week." I said. All three gave me strange looks.

"What do you mean?" asked Kelly. I mentally smacked myself; I forgot to tell Kelly about my dream. _Idiota…_ I thought to myself.

"I had a dream while I was unconscious. I saw Chiron telling Kelly the whole Greco-Roman background, as well as the demigod-prophetic dreams, so no need for explanations." The three reacted differently: Annabeth frowned, Percy raised his eyebrows, and Kelly blushed. Wait, _blushed? _Then I remembered what she was thinking during the dream, and I blushed a little as well.

"Well, that's a first in a long time." Said Annabeth, interrupting my thoughts, "but not unheard of. Still, let's take advantage of this, since it saves us a lot of time." Percy nodded in agreement.

"Annabeth's right, you two need weapons, other than bows and arrows. I'll be waiting for you guys. Good luck." Percy headed towards the rest of the campers, who were waiting for their instructions. Annabeth motioned for us to follow her, and we walked out of the arena.

While walking, Annabeth asked about our experiences with weapons. Kelly mentioned her lost knife, to which Annabeth responded with a little too much enthusiasm. As the girls talked, I looked around, taking in the different parts of the camp. From here, I could see the Archery Range, the Arena, the lake and the track next to it, and finally the cabins, which was where we were headed. I tried looking for the Big House, but I was interrupted before I could.

"What about you David?" Annabeth asked me.

"Uh, I have a few weapons, and a dagger that one of the Hunters of Artemis gave me. Which reminds me that I have to look for her and give it back" I answered. Annabeth raised her eyebrow in response.

"A Hunter gave you a weapon?"

"Yeah, and if my memory's correct, it was the lieutenant, Thalia, who gave it to me before I left." Annabeth chuckled.

"Well that would explain it. I know the lieutenant personally-"

"I know, I saw that in my dream as well." Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"What didn't you see in the dream? Never mind, we're here." I looked around. We were standing in front of one of the cabins. Looking around, I could see that each cabin was unique, which allowed me to guess their… patron, I guess. There was one that was so bright it looked like it was made out of gold, so I assumed that was Apollo's cabin. Another one looked like a fisherman's hut, and had coral growing on the outside, giving away its ownership to Poseidon. The one we were standing in front of was grey colored, and had a carved owl over the doorway. Athena's cabin. The inside was filled with what looked like battle plans and books, and there were a few kids inside.

"Let me guess, you're a daughter of Athena?" Annabeth looked at me.

"How'd you figure that one out?"

"Athena's the goddess of battle strategy and wisdom, right?" Annabeth nodded. "Well, you have this look that screams 'I'm-figuring-out-the-quickest-way-to-kill-you'. You have grey eyes; you're wearing owl earrings and a grey t-shirt, and judging from the color of the cabin, I'd say grey represents Athena. Plus, the kids that are inside of the cabin look remarkably like you, with the same blonde hair and similar facial features." I said, pointing out each thing in turn. Annabeth looked impressed. "And, on top of all that, I saw you meet Kelly in my dream, so I also heard your heritage." I finished, grinning. Annabeth's impressed look immediately vanished, but Kelly started laughing, and I couldn't help but join in. When we finished, Annabeth was glaring at the both of us, but I smirked in response, unfazed. Kelly however, didn't.

"If you two lovebirds are done, would you please follow me so that we can pick your weapons and gut you later?" she said, pointing at a big metal shed on the side of the cabin. Kelly blushed, and I glared at Annabeth. She blinked in response.

"Good luck with gutting part." I said, smiling sadistically at her. She immediately recoiled, and I walked towards the shed, satisfied. I opened the door, and saw that the inside of the shed was lined with all sorts of weapons—from swords to spears to clubs.

"Every demigod needs a weapon," Annabeth said, moving past me. "Hephaestus makes the best, but we have a pretty good selection, too. Athena's all about strategy—matching the right weapon to the right person. Let's see …" Kelly stood next to me, and we looked at each other.

"Let me guess, you're not going to choose anything, are you?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Probably not, but who knows. What if I find something I like?" She rolled her eyes in response. I ignored her, "Although, I still have to modify my guns to be able to shoot Celestial Bronze. If that can't happen, then in that case I'll definitely need a new weapon."

Just then Annabeth came back and handed Kelly a massive sword. As soon as Kelly grabbed it, however, she nearly dropped it.

"No" the three of us said. Annabeth took the sword back and put it back on the rack where it came from, and continued looking. After a while, I asked if I look around, and she gave me the go-ahead. As I was doing so, I heard a familiar pumping sound behind me, making me grab a knife from the nearest rack and whirl around, holding the dagger in a defensive posture. I relaxed when I saw Annabeth pointing the shotgun at the ground, and not at me.

"Mossberg 500?" I asked her. She gave me look, but nodded nonetheless. I asked where she got it, and pointed at a different rack, one with different guns on it. After putting the dagger back where I found it, I headed where Annabeth had pointed. I found a replacement for my double-barrel shotgun, and one semi-automatic berretta, but nothing for the M60 or the L155A3 Sniper Rifle. I frowned; this was not good for me.

"Here's a question, can normal guns fire celestial bronze rounds, and vice-versa?" I asked.

"I'm afraid that normal guns have to be modified, but celestial bronze guns can fire lead bullets. Why do you ask?" I explained about my guns and the fact that I couldn't find replacements for them.

"Well, the Hephaestus cabin can modify them for you, but I'm sure you won't know the difference." She said, "Have you found a sword or spear that you might like?" I shook my head, and she continued to give Kelly different weapons while I put the berretta back; I was taking the double-barrel.

I kept looking around, when I spotted a cell phone lying on a shelf. I reached up, grabbed it, and examined it. It looked like an iPhone, so I turned it on. One of the apps caught my attention; it was called WEAPON ARRANGEMENT. I opened it, and saw blank boxes that said 'insert weapon here'. I was confused, so I asked Annabeth about it.

"Just an old experiment, nobody liked it, so it was scrapped. It's a portable way to carry all your weapons. You tap the empty box, and the camera opens, but instead of taking a picture, the weapon is flashed into the phone. It's also magical, so if you lose the weapon, it'll magically appear back inside the phone. The phone itself is indestructible, and untraceable by monsters, or mortals for that matter. We called it iCarry." I nodded, and put the shotgun inside the phone like Annabeth instructed me. A picture the double barrel appeared in one of the boxes.

"Why didn't anybody like it?"

"Well, it takes a while to get your weapon out, from getting the phone out of your pocket, unlocking it, opening the app, to clicking on your weapon. Also, there something about not being able to install other apps on the phone." I raised my eyebrow; it was a pretty good idea to start with, but Annabeth was right about the time it took to getting the weapon. I would find a way to modify it later to my liking.

I continued looking around, getting more and more frustrated when anything that I grabbed was either too heavy, didn't fit in my hand or hands, or was unbalanced for me somehow. I was putting the last sword back into the rack when I saw them: two identical knives, just hanging there with a film of dust on them. And they were beautiful.

The silver handles were bound in leather, with vicious points over where the knuckles would be situated, allowing the user to punch with the blade itself. The blades themselves were strange though: constantly shifting between the colors of celestial bronze and lead, with a slight curve to them. Just looking at them I could tell that they were designed to stab, slash, and block easily. I grabbed them, the blades facing outwards, and was happy to realize that they fitted perfectly in my hands. As soon as I touched them, a symbol appeared on the hilts, a Greek capital theta, . I started to take the dust off of them.

"Where did you get that?" Annabeth's voice asked behind me.

"They were just hanging there. Do you know what this means?" I turned to her, showing the theta on the hilts. She frowned.

"Well, it's a Theta, but capital." _Yeah, tell me something I don't know,_ "I've never heard of a god that's related to this symbol though, or of any immortal, for that matter. Still, those blades are unique, and have a bloody history." I raised my eyebrow.

"Tell me" Annabeth's shoulder's sagged in response.

"Later; this is neither the correct place nor time for that story." I frowned, but nodded in response.

"Hey guys," Kelly called, "I think I found the perfect weapon." I turned, and saw the sword that she was holding.

"That's a _Gladius_, Roman light infantry weapon." Said Annabeth, "It's the standard issue weapon for most legionnaires. Most Roman weapons are made out of Imperial Gold, but this one is made with Celestial Bronze. You sure about it?" When Kelly nodded, Annabeth smiled and gave her the scabbard for the _Gladius_, as well as two sheaths for my knives.

As we exited the shed, Annabeth turned to us, "Now that we're all set, it's time!"

Kelly and I exchanged a look, "For what?"

Annabeth smirked. "For your first sword-fighting class, of course!"

The only thing I could think was, _Oh, joy._

**At last! And it's the longest chapter I've written so far, with over 4,500 words!**

**Read and Review,**

**Helios Spirit.**


	6. I play Capture the flag

**I'd like to thank nikkidoesntknow for subscribing to my story. That alert made my day, so here's a chapter to pay back the favor! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5 – I play Capture the Flag… and do other things

_Three days later – Friday._

"…While the rest defend the west flank." I yawned. It was Friday, which meant one thing: Capture the Flag. Honestly, everybody was going nuts about it, and I still failed to see the entertainment that this provided. Still, I could see the logic behind the game.

Today's match was Camp- Half Blood vs. the Hunter of Artemis. Percy told me it wasn't usually like this, but with the Hunters being here and all, it was customary. He also told me the History of past games during his time, including his first one, when he was claimed by Poseidon.

At the moment, Annabeth was explaining the strategy that we were going to use against the Hunters. To me, it was pretty good, but after noticing how well the Hunters fought in the last three days, I didn't think it would be enough, even if she put me to attack.

"Bored?" Kelly's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked at her, and saw that she was outfitted in full armor. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to look cute in the stuff. I smiled at her.

"Not anymore." She grinned in response.

"Huh, in that case I should leave; after all, you don't deserve to be entertained by me" she said, winking.

"You are correct, of course. After all, who am I to deserve the company of the great Kelly Dunstan, daughter of Demeter?" She rolled her eyes. She had been claimed at dinner three days ago, but unfortunately the same could not be said for me. Nobody said anything, but I could tell that everybody was on edge because of it: people giving me strange looks, Travis and Connor weren't playing pranks on me (though that might've been because I held both of them at gunpoint… don't ask), Percy glaring at the sky every so often.

"Don't worry about it, it'll happen soon."

"Honestly, I don't care." I told her, shrugging, "If my parent wants to claim me, fine. If not, whatever, doesn't change who I am."

Before she could answer, Annabeth shouted out, "Everybody clear on what their part?" I raised my hand in response, and she acknowledged me with a nod.

"If you make it to the flag, who's going to cover your way out? I mean, by the way you're planning this, you're not making it quiet at all. The Hunters are going to know you're there, and I personally doubt that you'll get away with the flag." Annabeth raised an eyebrow in response.

"We'll just have to hope that we'll make it out of there." I shook my head,

"Ever heard of Murphy's Law?"

"No."

"If something can go wrong, it will."

"Your point?"

"This strategy won't win this game because it's incomplete."

"Oh? Well then, in that case, enlighten us." I moved towards the map, and pointed to where we had our flag.

"You got the right idea, but like I said, it's incomplete. Instead of using this route to come back, go this way." I told her, pointing out the new route for the capture team to take, "I'll stay here, guarding the flag, along with Will. You can take Clarisse with you, since there can only be two guards for the flag. I can cover you once you get the flag, but getting there's your job."

Annabeth laughed, "And how do you plan to cover us over a distance of 1 and a half miles?"

I smiled evilly, and unlocked my iCarry, which I had strapped to my wrist. Opening the Weapons App, I selected my Sniper Rifle. There was a flash of dull light, and my L115A3 appeared in the air in front of me, so I caught it before it fell to the ground.

Gasps were heard, and Annabeth's eyes widened, "Jeez, one of the rules of the game is-"

"No killing nor maiming, which is why yesterday I was given by the Hephaestus cabin 40 rounds of rubber bullets. At close range, they will kill, but over a distance of one-and-a-half miles, a headshot will leave you unconscious, and with a really bad headache when you wake up." I smirked at Annabeth's expression, and pulled out the backup plan: four flare guns. By now, everybody was paying strict attention to me.

"This is the backup plan. Two flares are blue colored, one is red, and the other is green. Percy, Annabeth, you keep the Blue ones," I said, handing one to each, "Use them if you're captured before or after you get the flag. In response, I shoot the red one" I pocketed the mentioned flare, "Meaning that I'm going in to get the flag, and it also means that everybody else falls back to our flag. Surround the flag, and don't let those Hunters get in and take it. Everybody clear?" Everybody nodded in response, and I handed Will the last flare gun.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"If the flag is taken, you shoot that." Will nodded in response, so I turned to everybody else, "All right, people, let's move to our positions, and let's deny the Hunters their 58th win." Everybody cheered in response and left for their places, while I walked back towards Kelly, who was patiently waiting for me where I had left her.

"Sorry about that, but someone has to make sure that we win this thing." She smiled in response, which for some reason, made my palms start sweating.

"No worries, though I am offended that you didn't mention me in your plans" I chuckled and she frowned.

"I was hoping you would say that," I said, "How much have you Demeter powers improved?"  
…

30 minutes later, I was 40 feet above ground, lying on a branch, looking through the scope of my L155A3. The flag was on the ground under me, and Will was circling around it. Through the scope, I spotted the raiding group: Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, and the Stolls. They were near the edge of the woods, standing on our side of the creek, which was the boundary line. I kept looking through the scope, trying to spot as many Hunters as possible.

_15, 20, 35, 37… 37 Hunters all-in-all, against 41 campers…_ I thought, _I think we can win this…_ I called down the numbers to Will, and how they were positioned. He gave the numbers to a camper, and the boy ran off; this was part of Annabeth's plan, so that we could shift our defense and be better prepared. Now, all we had to do was wait.

After about five minutes, the conch horn sounded. I immediately aimed, and fired three successive shots, taking out the three Hunters directly across from raiding group. I could tell that I nailed all three shots when they fell to the ground, unconscious. The raiding group immediately sprinted out of the forest, jumped across the creek, and entered Hunter territory.

_Faze 1 complete. _I turned to the rest of the creek, looking for the Hunters raiding group. I finally found them fighting 6 of our campers on our side of the creek.

"Will, 7 Hunters approaching our left flank, I'm taking them out." Will nodded, and I fired 4 shots. The remaining Hunters looked at their fallen companions, surprised, and the campers made quick work of them. When they finished, they waved at me with grateful expressions. I kept searching for more Hunters, but they were no longer attacking. Doing an ammo check, I realized I only had about 30 rounds left; I would have to be careful with my shots.

20 minutes later, there was still no change. No Hunters attacking campers, no campers attacking Hunters. I could hear some sounds of battle coming from the Hunters' left flank (my right), so I was shooting Hunters that were trying to cross flanks. After a while, they stopped trying to cross, but I could still hear sounds of battle. At this point, I was humming "Georgia on my Mind", by Michael Bublé.

"Sounds like they're walking through hell itself" I called down to Will, who was sitting with his back to a tree.

"That bad?"

"Yeah. Sucks that I still can't see them… On the plus side, no more Hunters trying to cross into our territory."

"Sounds to me that like they're giving up. I mean, this is the longest game we've played with them." I looked at Will, turning away from the scope.

"What's the longest you've lasted in the past?" A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. He didn't answer for a few seconds.

"About 10 minutes?" My jaw dropped in response, but didn't reply. _Oh come on, they can't be _that_ good… or is it that the campers suck that bad?_ I shook my head, and looked back into the scope. What I saw nearly made me drop the rifle.

"They're at the flag!" I could here Will getting up.

"How are they?" I kept looking, and answered after a few seconds.

"They're fighting 12 Hunters… I don't see the Stolls… Clarisse just took out 2 Hunters- ah crap, she's out of the fight. Percy's fighting the lieutenant… Her name's Thalia, right?"

"Yeah," came the answer.

"Ok… Damn it, I can't get a clear shot, too many people moving around. Annabeth's fighting 5 Hunters; the other 5 are surrounding Percy and Thalia. Wait a second, there someone else there… Will, black shirt and pants, combat boots, black sword, aviator jacket, who the fuck is that?"

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. He must've shadow-travelled into the Hunters territory at some point in the game" _Shadow-travel? The Fuck?_

"Yeah, well, he's good, but he's out. Only 6 Hunters left. Come on Annabeth…" Seeing a chance, I fired, hitting a Hunter that was about to attack Annabeth from behind. I fired 6 more times, taking out 2 of the Hunters surrounding Percy and Thalia, and 2 of the ones fighting Annabeth. Then I saw something that made me groan.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Annabeth's out… but at least she took out most of the Hunters out. That's it, that flag is mine." _Plan B. _I pulled out my flare, and fired it. I didn't wait to see if Percy noticed it or not. Instead, I jumped down from branch to branch, until I was safely on the ground.

Once on the ground, I slung the rifle over my shoulder; apparently that was how to put the big weapons back into the iCarry. After the rifle vanished, I selected my knives, and they materialized in midair, in front of me. Grabbing them, I nodded to Will, and took off running in the direction of the flag.

Jumping over the creek, I ran into Hunter territory. It was a straight shot from here to the flag, with no trees in the way, but plenty of ambush spots along the way. I kept sprinting, keeping my guard up, and avoiding as many traps as possible. I knew that there were at least 20 Hunters walking around in here, so walking was out of the question.

Halfway to the flag, the first silver arrow came out from my right. Deflecting it with the flat of my blade, I sprinted faster. The arrow sent a clear message: the Hunters knew I was here. _Good, wouldn't want this to be easy,_ I sarcastically thought. As soon as I finished the thought, 10 more arrows came at me from both sides. My body seized control, and I dived forward, twisting in the air to avoid all the arrows. Hitting the ground with a roll, I picked myself up and kept moving. After all, I _was_ on a schedule.

Finally, after a few more ambushes and gas arrows, I made it to the clearing where Percy and Thalia were still battling it out, sword against spear. I would've tried for grabbing the flag, but unfortunately the remaining Hunter from the group that stopped our raiding group was in the way. Good news was, she hadn't noticed me. Yet.

Looking around, I could see the Stolls, Annabeth, Clarisse, and the other kid, Nico, gagged and tied to a tree, all of them conscious and surprised to see me. _Weren't both those things against the rules?_ I shook my head, because at that moment Percy decided to notice my presence, effectively distracting him. He widened his eyes in surprise, and Thalia took advantage of his break in concentration. She slammed the butt of her spear where the sun-don't-shine, and punched him in the face, effectively knocking him out.

"Ooh," I said, and both Huntresses whirled around in surprise, "that had to hurt." Thalia gaped at me, but quickly replaced her expression with a scowl.

"Wow, I'm surprised you were able to sneak up on us" she said, but I shook my head in response.

"You pretty into that fight, believe me. But, let's avoid all pleasantries and get this over with. I'm sure we all want this to end quickly." The nameless Huntress glared at me, but Thalia nodded in agreement.

"Indeed."

And on that happy note, they attacked.  
…..

I immediately knew I was probably screwed. Nameless Huntress attacked me with twin Hunter knives, while Thalia used her spear and shield combo to fight me from afar. The spear I could handle, since it was more of a long-range weapon, but it was the Nameless Huntress knives' I was worried about. My body went into autopilot: duck, slash, block, whirl, slash, kick, punch.

_Come on, just a little more, _I thought. I kept moving, giving the girls a hard time. After about 15 minutes of fighting though, we stopped, the three of us drenched in sweat. I took advantage of the moment and looked around. Percy was still unconscious, there was no movement from the trees, and Annabeth and the others were staring at me wide-eyed, as if they were surprised I was still alive and judging from the fight I just had, I could see why. Sounds of battle came from across the creek, and that worried me.

"You're good, I'll admit." Said Thalia, "Even better than most people I've fought"

"Thanks," I said between breaths, "you two aren't so bad yourselves." Nameless Huntress sneered at me, but didn't say anything. She and Thalia started circling around me on opposite sides, and I prepared myself for another onslaught. _These are the moments in which I had a staff of some kind. _I suddenly felt a tug on my knives. I frowned and looked at my knives. As soon as I saw them, I saw something strange: the Theta symbols on the knives were glowing. They flashed, and I blinked as information entered my brain. I suddenly knew what to do.

Looking at the Huntress, then at Thalia, I said, "Let's finish this." Before they could react, I flipped one of the knives, and aligned the Thetas, bringing them together. As they touched, the knives glowed in white light, and they merged, elongating and transforming under my grip, becoming heavier. When the glow subsided, I was holding a staff with a blade at one end. The staff was 5 feet long and was completely black, making me realize that I had no idea what it was made of. The blade, however, was entirely different matter: it was three feet long, and it didn't look like celestial bronze, nor imperial gold; instead, it silver-gray colored, and I could tell just by looking at it that it was unbreakable. As I admired the weapon, the name came to me: it was a Swordstaff.

Looking at Thalia and the Huntress, I could see that they were completely distracted by the weapon, so I took advantage of that. Using the staff, I swiped at the legs of the Huntress, and when she was on the floor, I smacked the side of her head with the butt, knocking her out. I focused on Thalia, who by now was waiting for me. I immediately attacked, spear and shield against swordstaff. And I could tell I was winning.

Thalia tried to counter my attacks, but I had a few advantages over her. Because of the length of the blade, I could easily attack at close range, using it as a sword. Also, the staff side of the weapon was useful for defense, and was long enough so that if I needed some space, I could use the weapon as a spear or a polearm if needed. And on top of all that, I could wield the swordstaff perfectly, in a style that Thalia had never experienced before. So it was no surprise when to me when I swiped the weapon at her feet, knocking her down. I spun the swordstaff in a clockwise direction to knock the spear out of her hands, and using the momentum, I spun the weapon counter-clockwise, knocking Thalia's shield (which gave me the creeps) out of the way with the staff, and stopping the spin with the blade at her throat.

She reached out for her fallen spear, but froze when the blade made contact with her skin. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Yield" I told her. I waited for her to answer, and after 30 seconds, she nodded. I lifted the swordstaff from her neck. I moved towards the flag and picked it up from the pole it was mounted on. I started to head back to our flag, when I remembered the others. Turning towards where they were tied up, I grabbed the end of the staff, and with a precise swing, cut the ropes binding them to the tree.

"About time you freed us, punk" was the first thing Clarisse said when she removed her gag. The others had different reactions. The Stolls and Nico were busy removing their gags from their mouths, and Annabeth was moving towards Percy with a bottle of water in her hand, which she proceeded to empty on his face. After he woke up, sputtering and whatnot, she turned to me with a calculating expression. I ignored her and turned to Thalia, who was grabbing her spear and shield and shrinking them into a mace canister and bracelet, respectively.

"I'll give you a chance to warn your fellow Huntresses" She ignored me and bent to check on still-unconscious Huntress. When she was satisfied, she stood and proceeded to walk away.

"Wait!" I called her back. She stopped, and turned around with an annoyed expression. I pulled the dagger had given me before I left the Hunter's camp four days ago out of my iCarry.

"Thanks" I told her as I tossed it towards her. She caught it, surprised, and looked at it. After a while, she tossed it back, and I caught it.

"Keep it," she said, "you've earned it." Without waiting for an answer, she headed back into the forest and disappeared. I looked at the dagger, and put it on my belt. I realized then that there was silence behind me, though I could still hear the sounds of battle from the other side of the creek. Turning around, I saw everybody looking at me with different expressions: Clarisse glaring but respecting, Percy surprised, the Stolls amazed, Nico bored, and Annabeth still calculating.

"Where'd you get the new toy?" asked Percy, nodding to the swordstaff.

"Later, right now, we have to-" I stopped as I noticed the green light bathing everybody. Turning around, I saw the source: a green-colored signal in the sky.

"Fuck!" I cursed, turning back to the others, "they have our flag!" Not waiting for their reactions, I picked the flag up, which I had dropped when handing Thalia her dagger, and sprinted back to the creek.

When I was about 100 feet from the creek, I saw something that made me sprint faster. Between me and the creek, about 10 Hunters had positioned themselves, waiting for me with bows raised and loaded. But that wasn't the worse thing. A Hunter had emerged from our side, carrying our flag. And looking at the distance between and her and the creek, I couldn't help but notice that she was closer to it than I was.

Making a split-second decision, I flipped the swordstaff and slammed the end of the staff into the ground, propelling me into the air like a pole vaulter. As I flew over the line of Hunters, I threw the swordstaff with deadly aim towards the Hunter carrying our flag. The blade sank into the ground in front of her, and she slammed into the weapon, knocking her down as I landed right in front of her into friendly territory, and winning the game.

Silence. Then the cheering from the campers as both sides converged on the creek. I picked up my swordstaff, the flag clutched in my other hand. Chiron appeared out of the woods, beaming.

"Camp Half-Blood wins!" Chiron happily announced and in response, the cheering of the campers doubled in strength. I saw Kelly in the crowd, grinning at me and trying to reach me, but failing because of the campers. The Hunters were huddled, sulking and throwing me glares every so often. In response, I held both my swordstaff and the flag in the air. That's when it happened.

A scream told me something was wrong. Looking around for the source, I saw that the campers were moving away from me, giving me a wide berth. That's when I noticed the light from my left hand: the flag was burning, and the flames were black and white. Surprised, I dropped the flag but it remained floating in the air. This lasted for two more seconds, and the flames vanished. I caught the flag as it flouted to the ground and gaped: It was black-colored, with a white capital Theta in the center.

A universal gasp came from the crowd, and I tore my eyes away from the flag. I blinked, confused: everything was bathed in pale light, and everybody, including the Hunters, was staring at something above my head. Looking up, I saw a hologram of white light floating over my head, spinning and gleaming. A circle, with a Roman Numeral 1 crossing horizontally: a Capital Theta.

"It is determined" said Chiron, in a confused voice. All around me, campers and huntresses started kneeling, even if they didn't like it. That's when I realized what had just happened: I had just been claimed by my godly parent. And I had no clue who it was.

"What is it? Who's my parent?" I asked, completely bewildered. And by everybody's expressions, I could tell they were just as confused as I was.

"I do not know," said Chiron, "Hail, David Achilles Johnson, son of the Unknown."

**Finished at last. I must say that I had a LOT of fun writing this chapter. Don't try to guess his parentage. **

**Review!**


	7. I fight a goddess and get a power

Chapter 6 – I fight a goddess and get a power.

Later that day, I was moved out of the Hermes cabin and into the Big House.

After my claiming, Chiron had immediately ordered a counselor meeting and invited me to attend. After a few arguments (and well-said suggestions from Annabeth), we had decided that since I was claimed by an unknown god, a cabin would be built in honor of recognition. Until then, I would be staying in one of the guest rooms of the Big House.

In the meantime, I would continue my daily activities and keep training, only this time I could make my own schedule, especially since I had a new activity: finding out who my Olympian parent was. Dionysus didn't know a thing, and Artemis was on Olympus, so until she returned, I would continue to know nothing. Which practically sucked.

Now most people would say 'wow, you get to live at the Big House! That's so awesome!' Well, let me tell you something: Don't assume, because it'll make an Ass of U and Me. The conch horn for announcements happened to be behind the Big House, and let me tell you, it's not a pretty alarm. I actually started waking up and getting out of the house to take a shower at the communal showers before the horn sounded. And when I came back, Mr. D. would complain about how I much noise I made while Chiron and I would just ignore the drunk _bastardo._

Still, living in the Big House had its perks. For starters, waking up at midnight to get a book from the library was now possible, and the house had a small kitchen, so midnight snacks: possible. The problem? Mr. D and he waking up. And we're back at the fact that the entire thing sucks.

Since I could now modify my schedule to my pleasure, I now started taking most of my activities alongside the Demeter Cabin. Yes, to spend more time with Kelly. Though she constantly teased me about it, I could tell that she didn't mind. Call me dense if you will, but I still wasn't sure if she liked me or not.

The next couple of weeks were uneventful. I woke up an hour before dawn, headed to the arena, worked out, and when the horn sounded, headed to the showers, got dressed, and left for breakfast (at my own table, mind you; Mr. D made it appear one morning, and it was the only thing he did in the entire day), and spent the day on different activities. Though most of the campers gave me weird looks and glanced at me constantly for the first week, they eventually got over my unusual claiming and stopped.

I was thinking about all this as I headed out of the pavilion just after breakfast. First class of the day: sword fighting, or in my case, swordstaff and knife fighting. Currently, I was the undefeated champion of Camp-Half Blood when wielding the swordstaff, but when it came to knives, that winning streak ended. Clarisse and Thalia were the only ones who could get close to beating me when I was using the swordstaff, Thalia with her spear/shield combo, Clarisse with a two-handed sword, though I always won. I didn't know if either Percy or Annabeth could beat me since they had left for Camp Jupiter the next day after Capture the Flag, and they weren't due to return for another week.

As I walked into the arena, I saw Clarisse already warming up with her sword hacking at dummies. I'll admit, the viciousness with which she attacked those dummies gave me shivers. I guess that that was part being a daughter of Ares.

"Morning Clarisse," She ignored me and continued hacking at the dummies. I stared at her for a few moments and turned away, heading for the gymnast equipment. Dusting my hands and putting on a blindfold, I started my usual warm-up of the day.

Half-an-hour later I finished all the exercises. When I took off the blindfold and looked around, I realized I had drawn a crowd, and a strange one at that. Chiron and Clarisse were there, along with Mr. D and Thalia, and standing next to them were two more people. One of them was a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair dressed in a hunter's outfit and holding a silver longbow. I recognized her as Artemis. Standing next to her was middle-aged man with an athletic figure, with salt-and-pepper hair and an expression that reminded me of the Stolls. In his hand was a caduceus with live snakes, making me realize that this was Hermes, god of roads, speed, messengers, commerce, travel, thieves, merchants, and mail deliverers (too many titles, in my opinion).

I approached them and kneeled in front of them, ignoring Thalia's smirk as I did so.

"Lady Artemis, Lord Hermes, Lord Dionysus, this is an unexpected pleasure." I said. Artemis' expression remained stoic, but Hermes smiled.

"Rise, hero," He said, and I did so, "there is no need for formalities. You are quite famous on Olympus as it is; your reputation precedes you." I must've looked surprised, because he chuckled. Before I could ask what he meant, Dionysus interrupted. Drunk _bastardo._

"Oh well, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do than look at a brat" said Dionysus, and left.

Artemis scowled in response. Hermes shrugged, and Artemis said, "Very well. We are here to evaluate you, David, in your skills. I hear from my lieutenant that you are quiet proficient with the swordstaff." I nodded in response.

"Yes, mi Lady"

"Good. May we see this weapon?"

"Of course" I said. I unlocked the iCarry, and after pulling out my knuckle-knives, as I called them, assembled the swordstaff. Both Hermes and Artemis sucked in a breath at the sight of the weapon, and when the rays of the sun hit shined on the weapon, the runes on the staff just before the blade, that I had discovered after the Capture the Flag game were thrown in relief: _PRIMUS_, Latin for 'the First'.

"Nico di Angelo helped me identify the metals in the weapon. The staff is made out of Stygian Iron, while the blade is solid Adamantine," I informed the two gods, "Why this was just laying around in an armory, abandoned, is beyond any of us." The two gods and Chiron looked at the weapon in awe.

"Primus… The first," said Artemis, "a good name for this weapon. But enough dawdling, I want to see how well you use it. Thalia, Clarisse, get ready, you will fight him together." The two girls nodded in response, and I accompanied them to the center of the arena, where a space was cleared for the three of us.

Now, when I fought against them, it was always against only one of them. I had never fought against both of them at the same time, so I started getting a little nervous. I took deep breaths to calm myself, and succeeded. By then, both Thalia and Clarisse had their weapons out, so I held Primus in a defensive position, with the blade pointing down. Then, as if rehearsed, they started circling me, and I with them.

I was the first to attack, starting the fight with an upward slash of the blade to Thalia that was blocked with her shield, Aegis. Clarisse tried to hack at me, but I knocked the blow away with the end of the staff while slashing at Thalia's head with the blade. We continued like this for a while, none of us gaining an advantage.

See, the impressive thing about the swordstaff and its design was the fact that it was perfect for fighting multiple opponents at the same time: it was ideal for striking and blocking with both ends, and often simultaneously, and that gave the weapon an entirely unique style – A style that Clarisse and Thalia, even with 2 weeks of fighting everyday against me, still could not understand.

I slammed the end of Primus a foot into the ground, and using Primus as a crutch, kicked Thalia's stomach. Using the momentum, I spun in the air matrix-style and kicked Clarisse on her jaw before she could slash at me with sword. When I landed, I gripped Primus just before the blade and swung the staff-end like a club, hitting Thalia on her shield and knocking her to the floor several feet back.

Spinning Primus until my hands were at the end of the staff, I swung again, this time, at Clarisse. Primus' blade hit Clarisse's sword head-on, and her sword flew out of her hands, much to her chagrin. Keeping the momentum of the impact, I spun Primus in my hand, around my arm, passing it to my neck, still spinning, to my other arm and finishing the trick with the blade pointed at Thalia's neck. Behind me, I heard clapping.

"Déjà vu," I told her, and she smiled. I extended my hand, and she took it. Turning to Clarisse, I smiled, and she nodded in response.

"Bravo!" came Hermes' voice amidst the clapping, and I turned, "That was incredible! Not even Ares himself can match that!" Artemis and Chiron nodded in agreement, and I noticed Kelly had joined the audience, which now included the rest of the Demeter and Ares cabins. She was clapping as well and beaming at me, and I tried to not let that get to my head. Though I think I may have blushed a little.

"Impressive," said Artemis, "though I wonder how well you would do against a goddess." As if someone hit the mute button, everybody fell silent to the point a pin could be heard dropping.

"Uh… pardon?" I asked Artemis, who was now smirking at my pale face.

The only answer I got was the sound of hunting knives being unsheathed. I sighed, and prepared myself for the coming onslaught. Clarisse gave me look that said 'you're-gonna-get-it', while Thalia just glanced at me with pity and amusement as they moved away. Sneaking a glance, I saw Kelly looking just as pale as I was; forget it, I am a _fucking retard_ when it comes to girls. I smiled reassuringly at her, and she smiled back, but still looked worried.

"Are you sure of this, Artemis?" asked Hermes as I tore my gaze away from Kelly.

"Quite. I am sure that he will present a suitable challenge." _Ah, crap, why do the compliments come before I die?_ Hermes gave me a pitiful glance.

"Very well." He said. Artemis nodded and walked towards me, knives in hand.

"Now," she said, "the ancient laws that bind all immortals forbid me to challenge you, so you must challenge me instead." I raised my eyebrows.

"So I could just walk away from this thing?" Artemis smirked,

"Yes, you could." _Damn, that's tempting…_ Ok, so I could challenge Artemis and risk certain death and/or suffer maiming and life-threatening injuries. Or, I could just walk away and look like a coward. Problem was, never in my life, not once, had I walked away from a fight, not even when I was 13 and face-to-face to a tank.

The thing is, there's a reason behind this. See, one of the things I learned on the streets was this: You can't avoid fights, only postpone them. If someone's got a problem with you, take care of it fast and as soon as you can, because it _will come back and bite you in the ass when you least expect it._ Making my decision, I took a deep breath and straightened my back.

"Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunt, I challenge you to a fight." Artemis smiled, and took an attacking position.

"I accept your challenge."  
…

I would like to say that I kicked ass and that after the most amazing and impressive fight anyone had ever seen, I would emerge victorious, and that Kelly would run towards and swoon into my open arms with the setting sun behind us (no idea where that last part came from).

The truth? I got creamed.

As soon as she accepted the challenge, Artemis charged at me so fast that if I'd blinked, I would've missed her. As it was, I barely managed to block her knife with Primus. As soon as her blade made contact with Primus, she disappeared behind me. I whirled, trying to follow her movements and failing miserably. She attacked once more, and this time the knife managed to scratch my thigh. I yelped and pushed Artemis away. It wasn't deep or life-threatening, and I sighed in relief. Using the length of Primus, I kept her at bay, though I could tell that she was merely toying with me.

After a while, she became bored with her strategy and charged. My mind shut-down, my body going on autopilot as we collided with a flurry of blows and slashes, twin knives against swordstaff. Using Primus' blade as a sword and its staff as a shield of sorts, I managed to live. We disengaged, only to engage once more almost immediately just as fiercely, whirling, dodging, and attacking.

This went on… and on… and on… At some point I realized that the sun was directly above us, meaning that we had been fighting for more than two to three hours; it was midday. Most of the campers had come and gone, and Hermes and Chiron had left at some point but Kelly stayed, and that was enough to encourage me to continue. The huntresses had arrived when they heard their mistress was in a fight, and their presence, like Kelly's, remained constant throughout.

Finally, we disengaged. My throat was completely dry, and I could feel dust in it; my voice was probably non-existent by now. I was breathing heavily, and my vision flickered in and out of focus, and black spots danced across my eyes. My knees could barely hold me up, and my hands were screaming at me for me to let go of Primus. Every single part of me had numerous wounds: my legs, my arms, my torso, my face… and all of them were bleeding at least slightly. Artemis, however, only had a few cuts, though she was favoring her right leg; I had smacked her ankle with the staff, hoping to break her ankle with it. Like me, she was breathing heavily, but she looked _way_ better than I did.

I knew that I wouldn't last another 5 minutes, so at this point my options were limited. I could either give up now, or go down in style. I chose the latter; I was an idiot to think that I would somehow win at this point. Maybe it was the pain; maybe it was the pride; all I know is that it was the best and stupidest decision I ever made in my life.

"I'm surprised you are still standing; you have a strong spirit for a male." said Artemis, "But you are a mortal, and that is your greatest disadvantage in this fight. You tire; you will not last much longer. Give up now, and your honor shall remain intact." Her words were met with silence. After a while, I shook my head since I couldn't speak, and she sighed sadly.

"Very well." She said. I prepared myself: this was it, my final stand. As I gathered the last of my energy, I charged, and the battle started once more. For a while, I thought I could make it. Then everything went south.

As we fought, my right knee buckled, and I lost my balance for a millisecond, but it was enough. Artemis took advantage of this and gave a powerful blow to Primus, making it fly out of my hands, followed by a roundhouse kick to my stomach that sent me flying. I tried to land on my feet, but I simply didn't have enough energy. I landed on my back, hard, and rolled for a good 10 feet before finally stopping.

Everything hurt. Pain was the only thing I could register; it was a miracle and a curse that I was still conscious. When I could finally focus enough, I slowly started to pick myself up, much to the surprise of everybody, including Artemis. They shouldn't have bothered: when my I tried to stand, my feet twisted and I fell once more. This time, I knew I wouldn't get back up.

From where I was laying face down on the ground, I could see everything. Artemis was looking at me sadly, but proudly. Her Hunters were cheering and jeering. The assembled campers were looking crestfallen and somber, but I still couldn't find the face I was looking for. Then I saw her. She was sad, and there was fear in her eyes. _What was the threat? I don't understand…_ Then I saw something that made my heart stop, and start again, but faster.

Thump, thump.

It was a tear.

Thump-thump.

Something had hurt my Kelly. Anger flowed through my system, and my heartbeat picked up.

Thumpa-thumpa.

_How dare anyone hurt her!_

Thumpa-thumpa.

_I will kill whoever did this to her!_ My eyes zeroed in on Artemis, who was now eyeing me curiously.

Thumpa-thumpa.

_And nothing…_

Thumpa-thumpa.

_Nothing…_

Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.

_Nothing…_

Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.

_NOTHING WILL STOP ME!_

Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa

My heart rate was higher than normal, and I could feel myself going into Tachycardia. At the moment I didn't care: I was on a mission to make someone pay. New, powerful, raw, energy flowed through me, and my mouth locked into a soundless snarl as I moved my arm, putting it under me.

Everybody became silent.

I moved my other arm as well, and when I had them where I wanted, I pushed.

And started to get up.

A chant started from the campers. I didn't pay attention to it as I pushed my legs under me. I didn't pay attention to the incredulous looks of the Huntresses, the white glow surrounding me, or to the look of happiness and awe that Kelly had. All the while, my eyes were kept on Artemis, who was staring at me in shock.

Finally, I stood, straight, tall, and proud. I looked at Artemis in the eye as the roar of the campers became deafening. My vision was flickering, but not in a bad way. It was as if I was seeing two things at the same time, and I liked it. Finally, my vision changed completely.

Everything changed, and it was beautiful. It was as if the ground and sky were darkness, with colorful, humanoid figures standing in them. The figures were in different colors: red, yellow, silver, green… It was a rainbow of colors, and some were stronger than others. I instinctively knew that, somehow, I was looking at every single person's _energy._

My vision flickered once more before going back to normal, and I sucked in a breath: I could still see the energy auras. Clarisse with a blood-red along with her siblings, Thalia with a sky-blue streaked with silver, the Hunter's completely silver, and Kelly and her siblings a dark green, though Kelly's was much stronger than theirs. Looking down at myself, I could see that my aura was white-colored, but there were tentacles shooting out of the aura on my hands. The tentacles moved and writhed around like a headless snake, but if I focused on one, it would calm, as if responding to my thoughts.

Finally I turned to Artemis and gaped. I couldn't explain it, but it wasn't as if her aura surrounded her. She… _was_ energy. She was like a bottle of silver-colored pure energy, waiting to be released and wreak destruction upon the world when commanded. Weird thing was, I could still see details, so I could perfectly see the expression of apprehension and fear on her face. I smiled evilly at her.

"Let's play," Was all I said. Looking down at my hands, I focused on my aura and the tentacles started to retract, forming what looked like (to me) an enormous shape around my right fist: an exact replica of my fist, only bigger. I looked back at Artemis, who was still looking at me with fear. My anger was still there, and it wasn't satisfied with her fear: I wanted blood.

I ran forward, drawing my fist back to deliver a massive blow to Artemis. She didn't move, and that surprised me until I realized that I was moving faster than she could react. By the time she started to move out of the way, it was too late. I snapped my arm forward, my fist impacting her just below the sternum. I felt the air whoosh out of her lungs, and she flew backwards into the arena wall with a massive _boom_, sinking into the wall and staying stuck.

I moved out of the position I was in as my anger faded. My vision went back to normal, the auras vanishing and everything going back to normal. There was silence in the arena, and everybody was staring at me, slack-jawed, with open mouths and expressions of awe and fear. Mostly fear. Looking at Artemis, I saw that she had an expression of confusion on her face, but when she focused on me, it was of apprehension.

Suddenly, whatever burst of energy that I had vanished, and extreme exhaustion slammed into me. I started to fall as darkness overtook me, and the last thing I registered was Kelly calling my name.

**Holy crap… Fun :D**

**Take your guesses: what kind of powers did David just display? Who **_**is**_** his Olympian parent? Stay tuned to find out.**


	8. I sneak a peek of Doomsday

**I am so sorry for not updating in so long. I won't give an excuse as to why I haven't updated, since all of you have probably heard so many that you're sick of hearing them (I know I am).**

**I'd like to thank Noah (Guest) for attempting to guess David's Olympian parent, but I'm afraid that Ouranos is not his father. Enjoy!**

Chapter 7 – I sneak a peek of Doomsday.

_July 4__th__, 2012 – American Independence day._

_Darkness. Pain. Why was I in pain? Was this a punishment of some kind? Where am I? Was I dead? Though the questions floated around in my mind, I could barely focus enough to understand them, let alone attempt to answer them. At the moment, all I could register was the fact that I was in pain._

_Suddenly, everything changed, though not physically. I was still in pain, but it was now a different kind of pain, a pleasurable one, like when someone exercises and the muscles are growing to adapt to the exercise. It was then that I realized that my pain was not physical; it was mental, something to help me._

_As soon as I registered this, I could focus. It was as if a veil had been removed from my senses, though I was still in darkness. However, I started hearing voices, majestic voices of power, both male and female._

"… _Too much power…"_

"…_not let him live…"_

"_We created him!"_

"_He will be needed…"_

"…_shall have to watch him…"_

"… _Releases the rest?"_

"_A quest shall be issued…"_

_The cacophony of voices continued, though now they were muted. Suddenly, I was in a place that I could not understand. Three 10-foot-tall canister-like pillars stood in an enormous chamber, and two of them radiated power, for the one in the center had a massive hole, revealing an empty chamber, barely big enough for a full-grown to fit inside._

_Moving closer, I saw that the fronts of the pillars were transparent. The one in the center was empty, but the other two were occupied. The one on the right had a boy who looked no older than fourteen, while the other held a girl who looked to be slightly older, fifteen perhaps. They looked very similar, like twin brother and sister, and both were asleep, surrounded by a liquid of sorts. Looking at them, I felt that I knew them, but that was impossible, since I had never seen them in my life._

_Suddenly, the eyes of the boy opened, and he looked at me. An unexpected emotion of protectiveness surged through me as fear flashed in his eyes. Then, without warning, he drew back his fist as much as he could, and punched the inside of his canister, shattering the glass as the contents of the canister exploded outwards and released the boy of his prison._  
…

_July 4__th__, 2012 – American Independence day_

I was broken out of my dream replay by ducking another stone heading for my head.

"Focus David," scolded Chiron, "You must have full focus if this is to work!"

I apologized, and started to refocus my mind to catch the boulders being thrown at me.

Ok, back up. The fight with Artemis had been a week ago, and since then, I had a new training activity. After I had woken up from my painful-2-day-mini-coma and moved into my cabin, which had been miraculously finished during my coma, I apologized to Artemis – who dismissed it, stating that it was one of the best fights she had ever had in her immortal life, which I totally doubted – and told her and Chiron about the energy-vision, as I called it, and what I had seen with it. After some deliberation, Chiron came up with the theory that the 'tentacles' could actually influence objects since I could do a 'super-punch' with them.

He thought I could do some form of Telekinesis.

Personally, I liked the idea, since no demigod had ever had it before in the history of 'demigodishness', as Percy put it when he heard of it. Heracles and other heroes have had super strength before, but telekinesis was unheard of. Still, I was afraid of what the gods would think of me, if my dream was of any help.

The damn dream had come to me while I was in my coma. Artemis had been kind enough to help me with the dream, telling me that the council had talked about me. A consensus hadn't been reached, she told me, but the council would keep their eyes on me. She didn't tell me anything else, but I guess her pride against men stopped her; it was actually pretty surprising how much she helped me after the fight.

At the moment, I was trying to practice my almost-non-existent telekinesis in the empty arena –except for me and Chiron - with an exercise he came up with. It was pretty simple: catch the fist-sized stones being thrown at me with my mind and set them down on a specific part of the arena. So far, I had succeeded only in stopping the stones in midair, but when I tried to move them they would fly off in a random direction, consequently infuriating me and causing me to lose focus so that I would be unprepared when the next stone came at me and hit me in places that hurt. Yes, it was a vicious cycle.

I mentally shook my head, berating myself for getting distracted so easily. Focusing once more, I slipped back into my familiar energy vision and concentrated on the tentacles coming out of my aura. My heart rate sped up, but it didn't go into tachycardia like the when I fought Artemis.

"Try one more time. After this, you can take a break," said Chiron. He pulled the release on a small catapult, propelling another stone that was _conveniently_ aimed at my head. Keeping an eye on the stone, I concentrated on moving one of the tentacles into the path of the stone. The tentacle I focused on immediately moved into position with no restraint.

As the stone sank into the tentacle, my senses extended, and I could feel the stone. It didn't surprise me since it wasn't the first time I caught one, but it was pretty cool, even if I barely had any control. To any other person, it would look as if the stone was completely still with nothing to support it in the air, but since I was with the E-vision, I knew what was really happening.

Concentrating, I started to move the stone – for the first time – towards the marked circle on the floor, about 5 feet away from me. Too bad my focus was broken when the stone was mere inches from the target.

"That is _so_ cool!" Before I could identify the owner of the voice, I whirled around and lashed out mentally in its direction, the stone shooting to its new target faster than I could see.

And promptly nailing Percy in the balls.

"Ooh…" I said, cringing, and after a moment of silence, I just started laughing, doubling over while clutching my sides. Call me cruel, but it was so unexpected, and Percy's face of surprise when the stone hit him was hilarious. Plus, I wasn't the only one laughing: Annabeth was having trouble holding in her laughter for her boyfriend's sake, while Thalia was openly laughing at him, the two having come in with Percy. Chiron was the only one that wasn't laughing, though I could see a smile playing on the edges of his lips.

"Dude, I'm so… so…. Oh, ha ha ha!" I broke off, clutching my chest, my lungs burning for air from the laughter. When I finally calmed down, I tried again, "Dude, I'm so sorry, I did not mean that to happen."

"It's ok," came the groaned answer. That almost made me start laughing again. Almost. I was tempted of teasing him, but that would be overdoing it. After a while, Percy recovered and picked himself up, albeit a little painfully.

"Poor Seaweed Brain, you have the worst luck," said Annabeth.

"Tell me about it."

"I just did."

"Um, Thalia's gonna get a hernia if we don't shut her up soon," I interrupted them before they started arguing/flirting. We all looked at Thalia, who was still rolling on the floor laughing; by now, her face had discovered a new shade of red.

_Ding! Idea time…_ I looked back at Percy and grinned evilly at him, getting a confused frown in response. I grabbed a water bottle, and unscrewing the cap off, poured the contents of the bottle on Thalia's face. Thalia sputtered, getting up from the floor very much angry, and Percy's eyes widened as he realized what I had done. Wisely, he started backing away, glaring daggers at me while I tried not to snicker.

"What was that for?" Thalia screamed at Percy.

"It wasn't me!" Percy said as he raised his hands in the universal-peace motion.

"Oh really? Then please be so kind enough, to enlighten me as to who else is more water-related than you, Kelp-for-brains?" Thalia retorted angrily in response, and they started arguing.

"That was a plan worthy of Athena," Annabeth's disembodied voice whispered in my ear. I smiled.

"Thank you, Annabeth, and invisible or not, you can't sneak up on me; I can still hear you." Annabeth shimmered into existence as she took of her invisibility cap off.

"You're good," she said. I shrugged in response.

"There was a time when I was hard-pressed to survive. I learned to pay close attention to my surroundings by not only using my eyes, but also the rest of my senses. I just have a lot of practice." Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Care to enlighten me?"

"You don't want to know."

"Child of Athena here, remember? I think I do want to know." I looked at her.

"Believe me Ambassador, you don't." She frowned at me.

"Don't call me that."

"As you wish, Madame Ambassador." She rolled her eyes at me.

"So where's Kelly? How come she's not here, you two are like bread and butter," asked Annabeth. I frowned.

"She went back to her finishing school a couple of days ago with Clarisse; apparently the classes there ended a couple of weeks ago and the Half-Blood that saved her from the she-demon is having trouble getting out of there. She volunteered to get the girl out of there, since she knows the territory."

"Sounds like you don't like the idea."

"I don't."

"Then why didn't you stop her?"

"Because she didn't tell me of the mission in the first place, and by the time I heard, she was on the greyhound to New Hampshire. She also happens to be the most powerful Daughter of Demeter in the camp, even if she's only been here for a month. Plus, the damn school is girls-only. She and Clarisse won't be back until later this week." _Way too long,_ I thought. By now, Thalia and Percy were no longer arguing.

"You still could've gone," said Thalia, "I mean, nothing's stopping you." I smiled.

"Actually, Chiron is, and he's pretty convincing with a bow and arrow. Not that that's a bad thing, sir."

"No offense taken," said Chiron with an amused smile.

"Plus, do you actually think that I didn't do something to help her out?" I continued, turning back to Thalia, "I stole one of the Stoll's Hermes Overnight Delivery packets and sent her my M60 the same day. _After_ I Iris Messaged her first to see if it was a good time to send it to her." I finished with a smile. Thalia blinked, obviously stumped by my arguments.

"Why the M60?" asked Percy. I shrugged.

"She likes it, and it's the biggest gun I got. And she shoots it better than I do, too." Percy and Thalia snickered at this, but I ignored them.

"I'm going to ignore the part where you openly admitted to stealing." interrupted Chiron. I shrugged nonchalantly in response. Chiron ignored me, and continued, "It is my duty to remind you that your abilities give you a unique scent to monsters, and though I know that your survival skills are better than most, it is better safe than sorry. You need to train and practice your abilities, so that when the time comes, you won't be able to be taken by surprise; instead, your enemies will stand no chance against you.

"I must go; I have advanced archery classes to give. In the meantime, you should try and squeeze in a little more practice before lunch. If you'll excuse me, I take my leave." I bowed my head at him, and he left the arena. I sighed when he was out of hearing range.

"What's wrong?" asked Percy.

"Nothing, just the fact that I've been practicing this shit for a week and I can't do it," I sat on the nearest stand, putting my head in my hands. "It's frustrating that every fucking time I start to do it I feel as if it's going to work. Then it just goes ahead and fucks up." I got up and started pacing. I stopped next to a stone the size of my head.

"It's annoying!" I kicked the stone, and it shot forward effortlessly and exploded into bits against the arena wall. I turned back to the others, who were looking at me warily. "Every time I throw or kick the rocks, that happens, but when I try to levitate them, it doesn't, fucking, work!" I threw my hands in the air.

Thalia called out a warning, and I turned around, looking for the danger. When I didn't see anything, I looked at her and saw that she was pointing at something above me. Looking up, I saw two stones floating about 30 feet in the air above me. My jaw dropped open at the sight.

"That's it!" shouted Annabeth. Percy and Thalia looked at her with confused expressions while I looked at her with realization. She nodded at me, and I grinned back.

"Hand motions control the telekinesis!" I said. Looking back at the rocks, I extended my open hands at them, stretching my arms. In my mind, I could feel the control, though now there was no restraint against me. I quickly curled my hands into fists, and the rocks were crushed into small pieces. I brought my arms down, slapping the ground, and the rocks responded in kind, crashing against the floor into the marked circular area. When the dust cleared, I smiled at the sight. The rocks had fallen into a horizontal line, making the entire thing look like a theta.

I crowed in triumph as I pointed my hands open to the rest of the rocks, and all of them immediately floated up and started to circle me when I started to move my arms in circular motions. I punched the air in front of me with both of my hands, and the rocks shot forward and into the arena wall, exploding on impact. _That is a lot of dust._

I turned to the others, who were looking at me slack-jawed, and gave them small bows. They started clapping and congratulating me.

"Thank you, thank you! I'll be here every morning all week!" I said. They chuckled in response.

"That, my friend, was awesome." said Percy.

"No shit, Captain Obvious," said Thalia.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Sarcasm."

_Here we go again._ I looked at Annabeth, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I was. She pointed at another water bottle, and I got the idea. I made the bottle float up into the air, and with the appropriate hand motions, made the soft plastic rip open. I kept the water in the air with one hand, however, and with my other hand I made a small stone float up next to the water. I positioned the water above Thalia and the stone over Percy, and let go of my control, dropping the stone and water.

They glared at me, and I shrugged nonchalantly at them. "You should thank me, if I didn't stop you you'd argue right through lunch." The conch horn sounded right on cue, and Percy blushed when his stomach rumbled while Thalia just stuck her tongue out at me. We left the arena towards the lunch pavilion cheerfully.

After a very interesting and pranked lunch – which involved food mysteriously flying into people's faces, campers slipping on spilled drinks, Hunters giving death threats to male campers that supposedly touched them, and Chiron glaring at me – I left the pavilion for archery. I had decided to use a crossbow instead of a bow, since the crossbow was very similar to my sniper rifle. I pulled my crossbow out of my iCarry and started practicing loading it with telekinesis. After a while I could fire as many arrows as the Hunters in the same amount of time, though I still preferred my L115A3.

After a while, I had a free period, so I decided to go back to my cabin: Cabin 21, though I called it Cabin 0 because of where it was built. The cabin had been finished during my two-day coma, and I was grateful since that meant that I wouldn't be listening to Mr. D's complaining anymore.

Exiting the arena, I headed to the cabin area. When I had been claimed, Chiron had ordered a new cabin to be built, but for some reason it wasn't part of the circle; the cabins were arranged in a Greek omega, but my cabin was between the two minor gods' cabin wings, just below the omega shape. The cabin itself was long and high and wide, and it had a solid look to it, like the perfect combination of a warehouse and a military bunker. It was in a depression, with steps leading down towards the metal door. The outside was solid concrete, and the roof had zinc panels, with a few plastic panels to let the light through. The roof was also slightly slanted to one side. The cabin was painted in black, and above the door was a white capital Theta, easily viewable because of the contrast of the colors.

I walked up to the door, and pulled the lever that acted as a doorknob, unbolting the door. It swung open outwards on silent hinges, revealing walls that had redwood paneling, and a stone floor that looked suspiciously like marble. Four bunk beds were on one side of the cabin, with dressers on the opposite side. On the right of the door there was a set of stairs that led to a hatch that opened to the roof. Directly across from the door, there was an assortment of big guns. Like _really BIG fucking guns_: a trio of Terminator-sized Mini-guns, and three heat-seeking missile launchers.

Ok, I'll admit that the guns were a bit overkill, but they still pretty cool.

I went over to the only occupied dresser in the cabin and turned on the surround sound system I managed to sneak into the camp with some help of the Stoll brothers. Plugging in my iCarry, I played Skrillex music and threw myself on the top-farthest bed from the door; it was a good habit I had cultivated from my… earlier days. I started to relax as "Time of my Life" started to play, and started to oil one of my berrettas. I constantly kept one of them in my pants with a sound suppressor; another habit of mine.

Suddenly, the door banged open and I jumped off the bed, rolling towards the gun-wall and grabbing one of the mini-guns. I quickly turned to the door, the gun barrels already spinning when I heard her.

"You do realize that if you dare shoot me with that thing, you are so going to get it?" Kelly's voice made me freeze, and after a moment I started to grin.

"Kelly!" I put the gun back on the wall, walked over to her and gave her a huge hug. She laughed at my reaction as she hugged me back.

"Back so soon?" I asked as I let go of her. She smiled. _Gods I love that smile._ I was so entranced that I didn't notice that I hadn't let go of her hand.

"Well, with Clarisse helping it was pretty easy, and your M60 did quite the trick. Which reminds me-"

"Keep it," I told her, knowing what she was about to say, "You have better use for it than I do."

"Hey, thanks!"

"No problem. So tell me, how was your trip?"

"Pretty boring actually. We weren't attacked at all during the bus ride, and when we got there at nightfall we checked into a local hotel and spent the night. The next day we went to the Academy and found the girl in her dorm. The Mist had been manipulated so her parents thought she was already at camp, so there was no help from them. Anyways, we found her after killing the 20 hellhounds guarding the door; you should've seen Clarisse's face when I pulled the M60 out."

"I can imagine," I said, smiling. She pressed on,

"It was hilarious! After getting the girl out, we got out of there with only a few monster encounters, including the _empousa _that attacked me there a month ago. We made it back to the hotel and spent the night again. Next day we packed our stuff, and got on another bus back here. We came here about ten minutes ago." I raised my eyebrow when she finished.

"You're right, that did sound boring," I paused, gathering my courage, "I guess you really did miss me." I winked at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Well I certainly did _not_ miss your attitude." I threw back my head as I laughed, and she joined in soon after. A confortable silence filled the cabin, though I should've known it wasn't going to last.

I started to shuffle my feet nervously; I had never done what I was about to do, since there are no girls around when you're on the run or on a full-time job. I had no idea how to proceed, and I sure as Hades wasn't going to go asking Percy or Nico – when he visited – for advice.

"So, Kelly…" I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. She raised an eyebrow, and if possible I got even more nervous.

"See, I was wondering… if it was plausible… that the possibility of a certain action between us existed-"

"Spit it out!"

"?" She blinked, and I mentally slapped myself. The fourth of July fireworks show down at the beach was the biggest dating event of all year, and I hadn't planned on asking Kelly out since she was on her mission. But now that she was here… well, it was more of a spur-of-the-moment decision. Kelly looked down at our intertwined hands; I guess the both of us hadn't noticed that we were still holding hands.

"Will you go to the fireworks show with me?" I repeated, and she blinked again, which I stupidly took as a no, "I mean, if you don't want to, that's ok, I wouldn't want to mess up your plans, I mean, if you-" I was interrupted by Kelly's lips pressing against mine. Fireworks went off in my head, and I lost all definition of time. It could've been a minute, an hour, a day… I don't know. All I knew is that I was finally kissing the most beautiful girl in the world, and that maybe, for the first time in my life, things were going to look up.

After a while we separated, and I leaned my forehead against hers, grinning like there was no tomorrow. "I'll take that as a yes." She rolled her eyes.

"Obviously Light Bulb," she said, and she gave me a small kiss, "now come on, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Whatever you say, Flower Power." She glared at me, and I cracked a grin in response.

As we left the cabin, I closed the door from 10 feet away. I smirked at Kelly's surprised face, and explained the day's events to her. When I finished, I noticed we had arrived at a cave on the hill overlooking camp Half-Blood. The entrance to the cave was littered with bones and old pieces of armor and swords. Torches flanked the entrance, which was covered in a velvet curtain embroidered with snakes. _My kind of place… sort of._

"Rachel!" Kelly called. The curtain opened, and out stepped a red-haired seventeen-year-old looking girl with a freckled face, white blouse and blue jeans covered in marker doodles.

"David, this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the mortal we went to rescue," said Kelly, "She's the oracle of Delphi, and the girl that saved me from the empousa. Rachel, this is my boyfriend, David Achilles Johnson."

"Nice to finally meet you, David," said Rachel, "Kelly wouldn't shut up about you the whole trip back."

"The pleasure's all mine," I said. I extended my hand, and as soon as Rachel shook it, she stiffened. Her eyes began to glow with a blackish light, and her fingers started to dig into my hand. My head started to feel like it was being torn apart with a spoon, thrown in acid, and sown back together with a blunt and rusty needle. That's when the images rushed into my head, images mostly of death, pain, and eternal torment. Cities crumbled to the ground, oceans rose, and the Sun was blotted out of the sky with ashes from volcanoes. The amount of information overwhelmed my senses, and I started to black out as Kelly tried to unsuccessfully pry us apart.

_This shall soon come to pass. The gods will fall, and you will be their downfall._ A voice of power seeped into my head. Suddenly, everything vanished, as was replaced by an extreme calm and tranquility, the kind that rich people would pay thousands of dollars to achieve. A new set of images rushed in my head, though they didn't cause me any pain.

_Find the Seals. Protect them. Save the Universe. You cannot stop him without the Seals!_

My knees buckled, and everything went black.

**Finished at last! I have been dealing with writer's block, and this chapter was **_**so fucking hard**_** to write! Still, here you go. Chapter 8 has already been started, and let me tell you, it's going to be fun.**

**Read and Review!**

**The Helios Spirit**


	9. Tick tock, the countdown starts

**Sorry for the late update, my family and I were on a two-week cruise… it was fun though. Oh and by the way, I'm going to start college pretty soon… so yeah, you get the idea. Rare updates. Sorry.**

Chapter 8 – Tick tock, the countdown starts

_A fate worse than death…_

_A fate worse than death…_

_A fate worse than death…_

_The words kept repeating themselves in my mind, over and over again, like a broken record whose purpose was to haunt the dreams of many. Looking around, I saw nothing, a void blackness that stretched to infinity. And yet, as empty as it was, I could tell there was something, or someone, lurking, hiding, and biding its time in the void. Something powerful enough to annihilate the world without effort._

_Something evil…_

_December 16__th__, 2012, 0200 hours – five days before the winter equinox_

I woke up with a strangled gasp as my iCarry alarm sounded four hours before dawn. Quickly rubbing sleep away from my eyes I turned the alarm off, getting up from the bed and starting my morning workout. 150 pushups, pull-ups and other exercises later, I grabbed my clothes and a towel and headed to the communal bathrooms for a shower. It was my standard waking of every day, except for the fact that the dream kept replaying in my head and the ominous feeling it gave me.

_Wish Annabeth were here, she could help with the dream._ I shook my head; Annabeth wasn't going to help me with every single nightmare I had, especially because I had them every night since the fourth of July.

_And every time it's the same thing… except for last night. _The usual nightmare was of my past life, my training, and what I had done… But every time, I could never recognize the moment that was occurring, even if I _was_ looking at myself. _Get your ass moving David, you're going to be late for patrol duty. How'd I even land this shit anyways? Oh right, you just had to have a prank war with the Hermes cabin, and you just had to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time… And now I'm talking to myself. Joy._

Ten minutes later, I was dressed in black camouflage and black bronze greaves. I was perched on a branch of Thalia's tree 30 feet of the ground, looking through the infrared scope on my sniper rifle, courtesy of the Hephaestus cabin. The kid I had replaced looked glad that his shift was over. _And no wonder with all the things that have been going on._

For the last few months, monsters had been trying to get past the magic barrier that surrounded the camp more and more frequently. It was getting most of the camp antsy, especially since satyrs were having trouble bringing in new demigods into the camp; extraction teams were being sent daily to rescue both demigods and satyr protectors. Chiron was so worried that he almost didn't send Percy and Annabeth back to New Rome a few days earlier. Thank the gods for Annabeth's persuasion powers; the old rivalry between Greeks and Romans was almost non-existent, though there were still a few Romans that distrusted the Greeks, and vice versa, and the last thing we needed between the two camps was two no-show Ambassadors.

Now I don't get distracted easily, but there's a first for everything. I was so focused on my thoughts that I hadn't noticed three hours go by, and I also almost didn't notice the car barreling down Farm Road about a couple of miles away with a Minotaur and five hellhounds in pursuit, with an aura of evil following the entire convoy.

Almost.

_Oh… shit. This is bad. _I looked through the scope, aiming for the Minotaur. I fired five successive shots to the head, but the only thing that did was piss it off. I was about to aim for the hellhounds, but then I noticed something strange: the hounds were attacking _the Minotaur._ I frowned; _what the fuck is going on?_ On an impulse, I aimed at the car. It was two dark to see inside the car, but I could definitely see the logo on the sides of the car: crossed golden _Gladius_ and bronze Greek sword logo, with an omega in the background.

It was Percy and Annabeth, and they weren't due to be back for a couple of weeks.

I kept firing at the Minotaur, aiming for the feet, legs, and head. It was slowing down, though that was because the biggest – and last, since the others were killed - hellhound of the pack had jumped onto the monsters back. By now, the car was half a mile away, and the Minotaur was still in pursuit; it had thrown off the hellhound, and was quickly catching up to Percy and Annabeth.

_Change of plans. _My sniper rifle wasn't doing squat, so that meant getting up close and personal. Slinging my sniper rifle over my shoulder, I skidded down the pine tree, jumping off so that I didn't land on the dragon coiled around the tree.

"Peleus, stay!" I told the guardian dragon. I didn't wait to see if the dragon acknowledged me or not. I ran down the hill, storing my rifle into the iCarry and pulling out my berrettas. Primus was not the weapon for this situation, since I needed speed and mobility.

The car screeched to a stop at the base of the hill, and three kids quickly piled out, two of them lugging carrying something big between them. _Wait a second… three?_ They started to climb the hill, and I quickly hurried over to meet them. When I was close enough, I recognized the three of them: Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, was with them, which explained why the hellhounds had been attacking the Minotaur. He and Percy were carrying an unconscious kid between them, with Annabeth running ahead. She saw me, but I spoke before she could say anything.

"Go on ahead, prepare them for the kid, I'll hold the Minotaur off!" She shook her head in response.

"You won't be able to, it's healing too fast!" I cursed. Shit just had to go down the day I left behind the Greek fire grenades in my cabin. _Well that's demigod luck for you._ Then my gaze rested on the still idling car.

"Tell Chiron that he's going to need another car for you guys!" I didn't wait for her to respond, and ran to the car.

I closed my eyes, using my energy vision. I could see Annabeth's grey, Percy's sea green, and Nico's obsidian-colored auras, but more importantly, I could see the Minotaur's strange aura: it was the normal pitch-black, with not-so-normal streaks of blood-maroon, which worried me. All monsters had either a pitch-black aura, or not at all, though I could still sense them. I had never seen the maroon streaks before.

I opened my eyes. I could now see perfectly in the dark. The Minotaur was close and currently roaring its challenge at me. Concentrating, I started to prepare myself to deliver a punch to the car. When the Minotaur was fifty feet away, I punched, and the car flew forwards and into the Minotaur.

The monster caught it with both its arms, stumbling backwards a bit because of the weight. I quickly pulled out my berretta, and shot the now-exposed gas tank. The car exploded, and I shielded myself with telekinesis from the resulting blast.

The monster was dead. So why did I feel as if the danger hadn't passed yet?

I spit in the monster's general direction, and ignoring the feeling of danger, started to head back up the hill. When I made it to the top, I was met by a relieved Percy, who explained that Chiron had sent him back here to help me with the Minotaur, since he had dealt with it before. I nodded in response.

"How's the kid, and who is he?" I asked him.

Percy shrugged "He's still unconscious, and no idea. We found him just outside… you know, I'll tell you later. Right now Chiron says that you can go back to your cabin; go get some sleep before breakfast starts." I nodded in thanks, and we left in different directions; him to the big house, me to the cabins. A few minutes later, I had removed my armor but not the camo, and threw myself on the bed, falling asleep immediately. Doing a sucker-punch took a lot out of me.  
….

_December 16__th__, 2012, 0800 hours – five days before the winter equinox_

I woke up three hours later to the conch horn, fully refreshed, with an empty stomach and the feeling that shit was still waiting to go down. I got out of bed, grimacing; sleeping in camouflage was _not_ comfortable. I took off my camo, dressing in a black long-sleeved CAMP HALF-BLOOD t-shirt and blue jeans, putting armor on my arms only, strapping my knuckle knives – I also called them Primus knives - to my back and my silenced automatic berrettas to my legs. Exiting the cabin and locking the door, I left for breakfast.

As I walked to the pavilion, the feeling of being watched started to bring itself to the front of my mind. Looking around, I saw that I was alone, but when I looked back at the cabins, the feeling grew stronger. I dismissed the feeling; it was probably one of the Aphrodite girls checking me out as usual. Call me what you want, but in my defense it had already happened – more than once.

Walking into the pavilion, I picked my food out – the gods knew how much I missed real imported meat – and headed over to the hearth, giving out my usual offerings to Hestia, Artemis, Hermes, Tyche, and Demeter. As usual, the smell-less smoke wafted in my direction. I frowned, and on impulse, scraped some more food into the brazier.

_To Lady Insidia, roman goddess of treacherous ambush: I pray to you that you guide my senses and my blade, as I fear the dangers to come. _The smoke washed over me again, though this time it had a rusty metallic smell; the smell of freshly spilt blood. My stomach clenched as memories rose unbidden to my mind. I quickly pushed the images away; that part of my life was over.

I turned away from the hearth and walked over to my table, passing Demeter's on the way. I gave Kelly a kiss when I passed her, to which she seemed happy about. As I walked away, I noticed that there were only two people sitting at the Dionysus table: Pollux, the only son of Dionysus, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the camp oracle. I frowned; I had never known Chiron to miss a meal, and even Dionysus had to attend meals as Camp Director. My gaze locked with Pollux's, and I saw that he was asking himself the same questions as I was. I looked at Rachel; her expression gave me an easy message: _look around you._

Poseidon table: no Ambassador. Hades table: empty. Athena: no Annabeth. Apollo: missing its best healer. Artemis: filled with people; the Hunters must've arrived when I was asleep. _What the fuck is going on?_ I remembered the kid they were carrying when they came this morning. _They must be in the Big House, then._ Shaking my head, I kept going to my table, catching Kelly's eyes. She too had noticed the absences, and like me, was trying to make sense of them. I gave her a reassuring smile that she returned.

Suddenly, I felt an enormous power spike. I stiffened, and my plate dropped from my hands. It shattered on the floor, and the entire pavilion went silent. I could the gazes of all the campers on me, but I ignored them, looking back at Rachel. Her eyes were wide, and I knew that she felt the same thing as I did. Somebody screamed, and when I looked over at the Aphrodite girl, I saw that she was pointing at the brazier. Looking over, I felt my blood run cold: the flames become completely solid, and were now blood-maroon colored. _Just like the Minotaur's aura this morning._

"_The countdown has started,"_ said an unknown voice. I looked towards the source of the voice, and my gaze fell on Rachel, who was standing stock-still with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient - the sound a snake would make if it could talk.

Rachel walked over to me, stopping a foot away. The emerald smoke started to surround us, and campers that had gotten up were giving us a wide berth. I kneeled, and bowed my head.

"_I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, Seeker, and ask."_

I raised my head, meeting the Rachel's, no, the oracle's gaze head on. "What is the evil I have faced today?"

The mist around us started to morph into images. Cities burned to the ground, oceans rose, and the sun was blotted out with ashes; the oracle had just predicted Doomsday. Then, the oracle spoke as it turned to look around at everybody.

"_Speed is of the essence, to be done before evil day; _

_Six shall meet six in the city of sins, with evil source to be obeyed;_

_To the 51__st__ twelve must go, the second triplet to be found in the sleep of death._

_Black Souls' sacrifice to close the pit, the white demon's rage all shall fear._

_But beware; evil lurks at the 13__th__, Twins of Chaos to start the Awakening."_

The oracle turned to me, "_The darkest pit has been opened. Fail, and what you see shall become reality."_ Raising its hand, it touched my forehead, familiar images rushing into my head. She spoke another prophecy in my mind, and for me only. As I heard the second prophecy, I felt something that was rare in my life, something that I was not used to feeling. Something that told me to protect Kelly and my friends until not a drop of blood remained in my veins. It was fear. Fear for me, for Kelly, for my friends… for my new family.

The smoke started to recede, and the oracle closed her eyes. Rachel slumped, unconscious, and I reached over and caught her before she could fall to the ground. I looked at Rachel's unconscious form for a moment before looking at Kelly. Her eyes were afraid, her expression filled with worry. At that moment I made my decision. I mentally swore on the River Styx the revelation of the second prophecy would be when someone else discovered the prophecy, or if it became absolutely necessary to reveal the content of the prophecy, and I would only discuss it with others who already knew of it, if there were any others. I finally tore my gaze away from Kelly and looked around me.

The silence in the pavilion was so thick, it could've snapped with a pin dropping.

"A prophecy has been given," called out an Athena camper. Malcolm, I think his name was. "This calls for a quest." The pavilion immediately erupted with campers shouting.

They were silenced by another power spike, and I could tell that they felt this one.

I stood up, "Campers, to arms! Thalia, bring your Hunters." I looked out of the pavilion in the direction of the cabins, and by extension, the Big House. Everybody started laughing.

"What makes you think we're going to listen to you?" said a familiar voice, and I looked at Clarisse. Before I could answer, a third power spike was felt, accompanied by a beam of black light from the Big House.

"How about now?" I didn't wait for her answer as I ran out of the pavilion at a full sprint in the direction of the Big House, pulling out one of my primus knives and a berretta. I heard footsteps following me, at glancing back I saw Thalia leading the Hunters.

"Can't let you have all the fun!" Thalia shouted at me. I grinned back at her and kept running.

When we made it to the Big House, the beam of light had vanished, but the entire building was now bathed in a blood-maroon aura. Looking at the auras inside, I could see Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Will Solace, Chiron, Dionysus, and Artemis, plus one more, though this one was the source of the aura surrounding the building. I pointed to the attic of the Big House as I grudgingly remembered my training.

"Thalia, have some of your Hunters climb up to each floor and search them on my signal. Anything not friendly dies, but quietly." She nodded, and gave the orders. Groups of five Huntresses each started to climb up to the windows on each floor.

I turned back to Thalia, "You, your best Hunters and I are going to go in through the front door." She frowned, and turning around, picked four. We walked up the porch to the door. I positioned myself in front, while the Huntresses and Thalia lined themselves up on the walls next to the door. I shook the doorknob, but abandoned it when I realized it was locked. I pointed my berretta at the doorknob, holding my knife with my other hand under the pistol.

I nodded to the Huntress waiting for my signal. She shouted to the Huntresses above us, and I heard four windows break. Shooting the doorknob with my berretta, I kicked open the door and rushed inside, aiming around. The entire living room was dark, with no lights lit. The power must've gone out as well, because the pack-man machine in the corner was off. Seymour, the living stuffed leopard head was silent as his eyes flickered around in fear.

"Clear!" The Huntresses followed me in. I went through the hallway to the nearest room, which so happened to be Chiron's office. I kicked the door open, and shot the shadow that sprung out at me.

"Keep your eyes open, we got some Keres!" I said to the nearest Huntress as I saw the part humanoid part bat creature dissolve into golden dust. Before it completely dissolved, I saw the monsters' aura was the same blood-maroon from the Minotaur and the aura around the house, which was why I couldn't see it from the outside since it blended in. _Hell, I can barely see it when it's right in fucking front of me!_

About a minute later, the all-clear was given. The Big House was clean, all four floors having been checked, the attic and the infirmary empty, the last one worrying me. There was only one last place to check.

"The basement," said Thalia, "We're waiting for you." I was surprised at the fact that they had waited, but I figured that with me leading the charge I would be the first person the threat would see; the huntresses wouldn't give a flying fuck if I died.

Ignoring my own thoughts, I nodded at her and positioned myself at the locked door behind the stairs. I sheathed my Primus knife and pulled out my other pistol. I replaced the normal sized magazines with extended ones and removed the sound suppressors, checking the door for auras. Percy and the others were inside, though Chiron's, Nico's and Artemis' was slightly suppressed. The unknown aura was stronger, pulsing like a heartbeat and releasing power spikes that became stronger and more frequent.

I turned to the Huntresses, and whispered, "Ready?" They nodded, and I turned back to the door, readying my pistols. "On the count of three, then."

"One,

"Two,

"_Three!_" I said at a normal volume as I kicked the door open.


	10. The Demon

**08/21/2012 – Please read the important Author's note after the chapter. A few revisions have been made.**

Chapter 9 – The demon

_December 16__th__, 2012, 0900 hours – five days before the winter equinox_

Time slowed down. Not literally, but figuratively: I could see every single detail, every single speck of dust as adrenaline coursed through my veins. I could see Artemis, Will, Nico and Chiron unconscious, the former ones on the floor and the latter against the wall while Chiron was slumped in his wheelchair. I could see Percy and Annabeth against the wall directly across me, holding the not-so-unconscious kid by his arms while Dionysus was grabbing his head, trying to subdue him. And, most importantly, I could see the kid.

His body and looked like it was decaying from mal nourishment; I could literally see his ribs and organs through his purple T-shirt, like he was rotting from the inside out. His skin was deathly pale, like it belonged on a dead body, and his arms were laced with numerous cuts that looked self-inflicted, while his hair was completely white and falling out in clumps. But the most striking feature of him was his eyes: blood-maroon irises with constricted pupils, filled with animalistic madness. And the worst thing? As soon as I kicked the door open, they turned to me.

He let out a blood curling scream, and with almost no effort at all threw Annabeth into Percy and then slammed Dionysus into the wall next to me, knocking them out immediately. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood straight up and I barely resisted the urge to bolt out of the room as I pulled the triggers. Adrenaline was still in my system, so I could see the automatic Berretta 92FS barrels traveling back and forth, ejecting still-smoking bullet casings as the pistols fired again and again. The kid started to convulse as the bullets pierced him, but I could tell that he was somehow still alive as my adrenaline burst started to fade.

Then, the horrible moment where my ammo runs out. Thankfully, the Hunters were behind me and ready, because as soon as my berrettas ran out, they released their arrows. All of them hit their mark, pinning him to the wall since at point-blank range the arrow went right through.

"Retreat," I told Thalia, ignoring her resulting glare as I reloaded, "We'll fight him in the open!"

"We have him right here!" she screamed back at me. I gave an exasperated yell, and after holstering my berrettas, pulled out my two double-barrel shotguns from the iCarry. Walking up the guy, I braced myself and pulled both triggers on the shotguns.

The guy's head was now non-existent, and blood was spraying out of severed blood vessels. The arms stopped moving, and the kid stopped convulsing. As I watched, ignoring the gagging sounds behind from some of the Hunters, the guy's vertebrae started to move upwards, flesh and bone reforming itself out of black energy.

"Still want to fight him in here?" I looked back at Thalia, who was trying to hold in her breakfast. She hesitated, but finally gave the order.

"Fall back! Grab these guys and get them out of here! Fall back!" she yelled, and Huntresses scrambled to follow her orders, albeit a bit grudgingly when it came to taking the guys. I popped another couple of shells into the reforming head, stopping its progress temporarily. I quickly reloaded, using kinesis to reload both shotguns at the same time while the Hunters were trying to get an unconscious Chiron out of his wheelchair. I would've laughed at the image if we weren't facing a reforming bloodthirsty zombie with red eyes.

Finally they got everyone out, and when Thalia nodded at me, I fired four shells into the things' head and torso, effectively destroying most of it even as it reformed itself almost immediately.

"GO!" Thalia didn't need to be told twice, and I bolted out of the basement hot on her heels, reloading the shotguns while running. Looking ahead, I realized we were the only ones still inside the house. Bursting out the front door, I closed it, dragging one of the lounge chairs in front of it to block it. I quickly turned away from the door, but before I could step off the porch, the entire front of the Big House exploded, and I was blasted forward.

I nearly blacked out. As it was, I was having difficulty staying conscious, but I managed. My head and back were hurting, and my arms and legs had numerous scratches from the debris I landed on. Prying myself slowly off the ground, I looked around through my blurry vision and saw both campers and Hunters were running around, helping others and carrying them away on makeshift stretchers. Strange thing was, I couldn't hear a single thing, not even my heartbeat. Reaching up to my ear with one hand, I touched it, feeling it warm and wet. Looking at my fingers, I saw they were bloody. _Perfect, now I'm deaf._

Black spots danced across my eyes, and my vision slid in and out of focus in sync with the throbbing of my head. Pushing my arms under me, I gingerly started to pick myself up, when a bare foot entered my line of vision as I suddenly felt strong fingers grip the back of my neck, yanking me up and cutting my air. I instinctively flexed my neck muscles, but it wasn't doing much good. Looking at the kid in the eye, I had a sudden realization that made me pale. _Gods damn this thing to Tartarus; he's not even human anymore!_

The thing's grip grew stronger, suspending me up into the air with one hand. Thinking quickly, I reached behind me and grabbed one of my knives with one hand while holding myself from the thing's arms with the other. I stabbed its wrist, and with a twist, separated the entire hand from the arm. The fingers went slack, and I fell to the ground as I twisted in midair, kicking it away from me.

When I tried to breathe, I found that my airway was blocked and pain racked the inside of my throat. _Not good… Definitely NOT FUCKING GOOD! _This meant only one thing: my Adam's apple had been pushed into my throat when the fucker was choking me, crushing my trachea – A.K.A., windpipe - and effectively blocking my air supply.

Now, most people would say, _holy shit, holy shit, the dude can't breathe, it's over!_ See now, here's the thing. Technically, that's correct to a certain extent. There are various elements coming into play here in this type of situation. Do you die when you hold your breath while swimming? No, obviously not. The difference is that while you're swimming, your windpipe isn't in complete agony. However, if you can ignore the pain, you _can_ still defend yourself to a certain extent.

In the human body, there are various containers or carriers that include oxygen, but the most important ones are the lungs and the blood that circulates up and down and around your body. When you hold your breath, you're cutting off your continuous oxygen supply, which comes from the air around you. In response, your heartbeat naturally slows down, to a certain extent, allowing the now-limited oxygen to be equally distributed for a longer period, while the lungs start to work overtime sucking every last atom of oxygen out of the remaining air left in them. This is why swimmers have _enormous _lungs: the bigger the lung, the more air left in them, and a bigger supply of oxygen can be distributed around the body, especially when the muscles and brain are in overdrive or doing exercise.

This meant that I had at least seven minutes, barely. Pain reduces stamina greatly, especially when wounds are in the inside of the human body, which meant that I had to kill a possessed reforming animalistic kid in less than three minutes before I fainted. Just great.

While all this was going through my head, the demon's hands had grown back, and it looked _pissed_. It opened its mouth, letting another blood curling animalistic scream – even deaf I could hear that thing - as it started to transform.

Its pale skin started to turn blacker than a nightmare, and every single blood vessel started to shine with maroon colored light, throwing them into relief against the black skin. The red in the demons eyes started to spread across the whites, making the entire eyeball maroon colored as it started to lose its hair, all of it. Suddenly the demon's purple T-shirt and blue jeans burst into black-and-red flames, leaving it stark naked, revealing clawed feet and talons bigger than both of my hands put together. Oh, and it had no groin. The entire image was wrong, and it only became worse when the demon's jaw unhinged and split half-way, revealing teeth that belonged to a saber tooth tiger, a tentacle for a tongue with shark teeth, and an acidic smell like thirty human bodies had been thrown in a ditch and left to rot under the desert sun for ten days – and I knew how that smelled from personal experience.

I would've puked of the smell if my windpipe wasn't crushed.

The monster charged at me, lashing out with its now-clawed hands. I drew my hand back, and curling my fingers into a fist, released a telekinetic god-punch at it, similar to the one that I had given Artemis.

It had no effect.

I stumbled back, surprised, but before it could reach me, a lightning-bolt hit its chest, sending it backwards. I looked at Thalia, nodding in thanks, and I noticed the campers had made a ring around us with their weapons drawn. Spear, javelins, axes, swords, and arrows were gleaming in the morning sun, waiting for the taste of blood, but the ring gave a clear message: you win, hurray, you lose, too bad, it's our turn. Looking at the faces of the campers though, it looked as if they were both frustrated and afraid; _guess we'll have to add bipolar-ishness to the list of demigod identifiers._

By now, the demon was back on its feet, and preparing itself for another charge. I quickly grabbed my knives, putting Primus together; I needed to keep that tongue and those teeth away from me, and Primus was perfect for both long- and medium-range. The demon clapped its hands, and I felt a powerful energy blast resonate in response. I didn't think about it too much, because that was when the thing decided to charge. Using the blade, I parried the demon's claws, keeping an eye on the demon's tongue and trying not to gag. It lashed out with both hands, and I used the staff to block. Spinning it, I cut off its left hand while smashing the staff-end into its chest.

While the monster was getting up, I reached up to my throat, and with my index finger and thumb, yanked my Adam's apple back where it belonged. I really needed to breathe, especially since the acidic smell had started to literally burn my nose. Alternating between gasping and coughing, I held Primus in a defensive position, when I noticed that the demon wasn't attacking me… yet. Moving my gaze behind it, I saw a broken beam of wood. Using my kinesis, I made the beam shoot forward and into the thing's back. The broken edge of the beam pierced its right shoulder and didn't stop, leaving behind a six-inch wide gaping hole in its shoulder.

It didn't even blink in response as it started to advance.

Steeling my nerves, I let go of all my fear, readjusted my grip on Primus, and charged, letting loose a battle-cry. I started by swinging the blade to its head in a feint, and when it tried to block, I twisted the swordstaff and Primus changed direction, sinking into its side. I yanked Primus out before the demon could grab it. Keeping the momentum, I spun Primus, hitting the demon on the inside of its mouth with the butt-end. Before I could continue with the spin and slice it in half, it dodged and started to let loose a flurry of slashes and kicks.

I went on the defensive, blocking its attacks using Primus' blade and staff alternatively, trying to see if it used an attack pattern of sorts. I was also using telekinesis by throwing nearby objects at it. Let's just say, it would dodge them; apparently it learned its lesson. I also noticed that it was no longer healing, nor re-growing body parts, and I was trying to use that to my advantage by attacking it where its guard wasn't as good, but this thing wasn't good… it was _experienced._

Suddenly, the demon surprised me by launching itself at me, its feet leaving the ground as it flew into the air at me. It hit me before I could push it away with Primus, and it jammed the weapon between our bodies. It raked its… teethed tongue on my face, and I screamed in pain.

_Have... to … get this… thing… off of me!_ A desperate idea formed in my head, and I concentrated, blocking the pain and everything around me, as I focused my telekinetic energy to my lungs and throat. I took a deep breath, and released it in a high-pitched scream that blasted the demon off of me.

I quickly got up, grabbing my throat in the process; pain was now a common feeling in my neck, though now I could tell that I was in _deep shit_. There were a few holes in my neck from the sonic blast, tiny ones at that, but they still gave me hell when I breathed and were bleeding. On top of that, one of my fingers was broken, and my scalp was burning where the demon's tongue had cut me. _Ouch._

Yeah, I've had better days.

I needed to wrap this up quick. I started to spin Primus, and when the monster got close enough, I made two consecutive slashes at its feet, cutting them off. It fell to the ground, and before it could get up, I grabbed two spears from the campers and kinetically stabbed them into the things arms, pinning it. It screeched in defiance, but I paid it no mind as I stabbed and slashed its open mouth and torso repeatedly with Primus' blade, ignoring the blood that spilled onto me or the horrified looks of the other campers at my ferocity. It screeched in pain, but gave no reason to believe that it was dying anytime soon.

That's when things got pretty bad.

The demon decided to kick me with what was left of its legs. Even though they were pretty much stumps, it still hurt and sent me flying a few feet away.

"All right, that's it; let me show you how to do this!"

I hadn't even realized that I could hear again. Before I could get up to stop her, Clarisse ran up to the monster with her two-handed sword drawn. Raising it, she was about to behead the demon when out of nowhere she hesitated. The demon wrapped its tongue around her ankle and squeezed. She screamed in pain and anger, breaking out of her trance, and the demon let go before she could cut off the tongue. Clarisse stepped away, but then she went rigid, her expression of anger going from confusion to surprise, ending once more in pain as she feinted, falling to the ground as she started to convulse.

I got pretty mad at the demon then. I got up, ignoring the pain in my ribs as I got up. I grabbed Primus, and with a slash, beheaded the demon. I stabbed the head in the neck, raising it like a spoil of war, and stabbed Primus in the things heart and left it there, pinning it even more to the ground with its own head on its chest. I turned to Clarisse, who was now being dragged away from the fight by the Huntresses and some Apollo kids as they tried to revive her and cure her ankle injury. Turning back to the demon, I noticed something very strange.

It had stopped moving.

As I watched, the demon's black skin started to change color, reverting back to a healthy California tan. Its aura was receding as well, taking the body's damage with it. I kneeled at its face, opening the eye, and was greeted with bright blue irises, though now they were lifeless. The demon possessing the kid was dead, but so was its unfortunate vessel. Still, just in case though…

I stood up and walked up to Thalia, noticing that Kelly was there as well. Kelly immediately rushed towards me and started to give me a massive bear-hug. I winced because of my ribs, but hugged her back with one arm, trying not to get her bloody. Thalia gave me a rag that smelled like alcohol, but I knew better. I grabbed it and started to rub it on my neck, savoring the feeling of my wounds healing as the Nectar did its job. When I could breathe painlessly again, I accepted the Ambrosia she gave me, carefully chewing and swallowing it. Kelly didn't let go of me, and I realized she was crying. Thalia left to give us some space after I wiped my hands on the rag and started to rub Kelly's hair and back, slowing soothing her.

After a while her tears stopped and she pulled away, though she still shook in fear.

"How are you?" she asked. I hesitated.

"Not good," I told her, and I lowered my voice, "I can't lie, I feel better physically, but mentally… I haven't killed someone in a long time, even if he was possessed." Kelly nodded. She knew about my past since I had told her about five months prior, and I loved her even more because of the fact that we had only been dating about a month and she didn't run away screaming bloody murder. Now here we were, six months later talking about it like it was no big deal.

"Thalia and I couldn't help you," she said out of nowhere. I looked at her with a questioning expression, and she lowered her eyes in shame.

"There was something blocking our powers, like a force-field or something; we couldn't even use any of our powers." _So _that_ was what that last power surge was for…_

"Can you use them now?" I asked her. She frowned, and almost immediately a rose bush grew out of the ground next to us.

"See?" I said, grabbing one of the roses and putting it in her hair, "You still have your flower power." She glared at me in response, but I ignored her, "Hey, I'm still breathing, and all of my limbs are still attached, so no harm done. Besides," I bent to kiss her lips, "the odds of that thing attacking you instead of me were pretty high, and I did _not_ want that to happen. Not because I think that you can't take care of yourself – Hades knows you're more than capable – but because I would never forgive myself if you had gotten hurt." _Especially after what happened to Clarisse,_ I wanted to add, but that would've been cruel. I closed the distance between our lips, and gave her a soft kiss that she returned.

"Ahem." I groaned against Kelly's lips.

"Go away Thalia," I could feel Kelly smile at that.

"Bro, you got problems if you're confusing me with my cousin," said Nico di Angelo's voice, "so stop making out with your girlfriend and pay attention." In response, I pulled out my berretta, aiming in Nico's general direction.

"Other side."

Long story short, I was accidentally aiming at a not-so-happy-Huntress, Percy was still unconscious, Annabeth was taking care of him, Clarisse was in intensive care, and Nico was reporting to me because he was bored out of his mind, and "needed to make fun of somebody that wouldn't permanently maim him."

"Oh, and by the way, Chiron says that he doesn't want anyone near the demon's body; he's going to have the Hecate kids make it disappear or something, so grab your stick before they do," said Nico before he left. "Oh, and there's going to be a meeting at the Big House in an hour!"

I sighed and turned to Kelly, and after asking her, she made vines grow around the body's arms and legs, just in case for surprises as I walked over.

I pulled Primus out of the body, disassembling it and sheathing the knives on my back. I bent once more to close the body's eyes, when I noticed something: the body's aura was pure, except in the heart, where it was bathed in black and maroon. As I kept observing, I saw the aura writhe around like it was alive and trying to escape the body. After a few seconds it started to float out of the heart and body, remaining a few inches above it.

Ignoring the cries of alarm behind and around me, I continued to examine the black aura, placing both of my hands a few inches away from the surface. My eyes widened, and I removed my hands as I realized something.

"Somebody get Nico di Angelo over here, now, and I don't care what he's doing!" I shouted. Thalia and Kelly hurried over, but stopped when they saw the floating aura.

"What _is_ that?" I looked at Thalia in the eye, dead serious.

"Pray that it's not what I think it is." Just then, Thalia's shadow started to morph and change shape, causing Thalia jump in surprise as Nico emerged from it.

"What's up?" he asked, and I pointed at the aura. He kneeled next to me.

"Is that what I think it is?" I nodded in response. He frowned. "Strange… I can't feel anything… I mean, I can see it, but I can't _feel _it, you know?" I frowned, and he opened his mouth to explain, but I cut him off.

"No, no, I get what you mean, but…" I looked back at the aura, perplexed now, "I can definitely see _and_ feel it." I looked at Nico, who had raised an eyebrow in response.

"You want to try…?"

I shrugged, and after a little concentration, started to do the spirit-absorbing trick that he had taught me a few months ago. The idea was to absorb souls and spirits to increase my Stamina and Strength temporarily, mimicking the effects of Stygian Iron. The long-term effect, however, was for my powers: depending on the strength of the soul, my powers would increase drastically, or not at all, but it was still a handy trick.

I reached out with my left hand, cupping the aura in it. A small moment of pain and discomfort, a flash of knowledge, and the spirit was conquered, absorbed into my body. I shivered, since the demon's spirit was nothing like I had ever absorbed before. My left hand burned a little where the aura had touched my skin, but after a while, the pain vanished.

"You good?" Nico asked. I nodded, and we stood, turning to the girls. Kelly put her arms around me, and I did the same, burying my face in her hair

"All right, for the last time, _what the Hades was that thing and where did it go?_" Nico and I simultaneously rolled our eyes at Thalia's antics.

"Isn't it obvious?" I said, "It's… it _was_ a living soul." I chuckled at her expression, but before she could say anything, a child of Athena ran up to us.

"Chiron and the gods are awake, and they're calling everyone to the Arena for a meeting."

Joy.  
….

**Author's note: When I uploaded this chapter, it was August 19****th****, one day after the birthday of the great hero, Percy Jackson. Three days ago, our favorite hero had just become 19 years old. Strange, on that same day, my sister got married, and I even went was far as praying to **_**Hera and Aphrodite**_** to bless their marriage. In retrospect, that was **_**very silly of me.**_** And yet, it felt… right.**

**Once this book has been finished, I'll start uploading some drabbles, short stories and one-shots of what happened between the days that David Johnson showed up at Camp Half-Blood and the events of this book; prank wars, birthday surprises, and the best days of David Achilles Johnson.**

**After the drabbles and one-shots, or most likely alongside them, I'll upload a prequel that has nothing to do with **_**The Chaos Chronicles**_**. **_**The Hero of Cold Blood **_**will be about what David went through from the day he woke up in an empty hospital, on April 22****nd****, 2006. Many things will be revealed, including some instances when David had close-encounters with the world of Olympus, including Mount Tam, his role in the Battle of Manhattan, and his near-death experience inside the Labyrinth.**

**Now, for the bad news. I start college tomorrow, and college is nothing like High School. My free time will now be non-existent, and my updates will be rare and far in between. I am truly sorry, but my Biomedical Engineering Career is very important to me, and this book is not as big a priority.**

**I know that most of this should be posted onto my profile, but for some reason, I felt as if this belonged here, as an author's note. Like David, I sometimes follow strange impulses – yes, that includes praying to the Olympian Gods every so often. I **_**will**_**, however, place these same announcements on my profile, but you, my faithful readers, get them first. Thank you, for staying with me.**

**Well, enough with the Author's note. Read, and be a guest or a Fan fiction user, don't be afraid to Review.**

**Yours sincerely, **

_**The Helios Spirit.**_


	11. Gameplan

**First week of my second semester of college… not bad! Still, updates will be once every two weeks.**

**R&R!**

Chapter 10 – Game plan

_December 16__th__, 2012, 1100 hours – five days before the winter equinox_

"_Speed is of the essence, to be done before evil day;_

_Six shall meet six in the city of sins, with evil source to be obeyed;_

_To the 51__st__ twelve must go, the second triplet to be found in the sleep of death._

_Black Souls' sacrifice to close the pit, the white demon's rage all shall fear._

_But beware; evil lurks at the 13__th__, Twins of Chaos to start the Awakening."_

I sat down, placing my feet on the table, and there was silence. Currently, all of us head counselors – including Kelly, since Katie Gardner wasn't a year-rounder – minus Clarisse and Artemis– Clarisse was still in the infirmary and Artemis was in Olympus – plus Rachel, Chiron, and Dionysus were at the Arena for a meeting concerning the "troubling recent events", as Chiron put it. No offence, but troubling my ass.

"So… this obviously calls for a quest," said Percy. Thalia gasped, covering her mouth with her hands and widening her eyes.

"Oh, my goodness, I had no idea!" she said, "Thank the gods for giving you the gift of wisdom in our time of need! Hallelujah!" Percy glared at her as everybody started laughing. Too bad it died down quickly; the demon was fresh on everybody's minds. Things had just changed, and everybody was on edge.

I didn't even get to wash off the blood on my face and clothes, and I could tell the impact I had by how everybody was either avoiding to look at me or trying to hold in their breakfast. Even Mrs. O'Leary, Percy's pet hellhound was keeping her distance from me, laying down at Percy's side with her head on his lap, which was the size of a garbage can – her head, not Percy's lap. Go figure.

"Ok, before we start with the prophecy, let's figure out a few things," said Travis, "First, where and how the Hades did you find that kid?"

Percy and Annabeth sighed after sharing a look, and they started the story.

Ok, so long story short: the journey to camp Jupiter went without a hitch, but once they made it to the Caldecott tunnel, they encountered a battalion of over fifty monsters guarding the entrance. They managed to sneak past the camp borders through a "back door" of sorts, only to find Camp Jupiter in ruins and New Rome barely holding out; Terminus, the god of borders was doing his job, allowing the twelfth legion into the city and help protect it from the monsters.

Knowing that they couldn't do much, Annabeth suggested they return to CHB, get reinforcements, and help defend them; we could manage it, since our flying warship, the _Argo II,_ was docked here in CHB. The romans were building two flying warships as well, but the _Pride of Rome_ and the _Julius Caesar _still had months of construction to undergo and were not battle-ready, since Romans weren't on Neptune/Poseidon's good side and were afraid of the sea.

Sneaking out of Camp Jupiter, they were about to leave in their car when they found the kid chasing them to the car. He wasn't wounded, but was completely winded, breathing heavily. He said two words – help me – and promptly collapsed. It was then that Nico found them - since he was Rome's ambassador for Pluto/Hades and the Underworld – and decided to accompany them to CHB. He couldn't shadow travel them out of there, as his powers had been blocked, similar to what happened to Kelly and Thalia today.

Ok, it wasn't that short of a story, but at least it didn't take an hour like the original telling was.

Percy finished, and once more there was silence. This time, I was the one that broke it.

"So you didn't see anything following the kid?" Percy shook his head no. "Then that leaves us with two options: either he was forced to follow you so that you would bring him here, or you guys were simply at the wrong place and time. Personally, option number one sounds logical. This was… how many days ago?"

"Five," Annabeth said. I continued, "This also means that we have to assume that if the kid had just been possessed, it took five days for the demon to take complete control; which also gives us five days to find a cure for Clarisse, _assuming _that she's infected."

Annabeth nodded, "What does the prophecy say…? _Six shall meet six in the city of sins. _So we send twelve campers to find a cure in a city of sins?"

"No," I said, "A group of twelve would never make it back here in time. Six people however, can make the round trip in five days; two days of travel, one to find the cure, and two more to get back."

"That's assuming that the mission goes without a hitch – that being no monster attacks and no setbacks whatsoever," said the head counselor for the Nike cabin. Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Plus, you're also talking as if you already know where the quest is supposed to go," she said as she leaned in her chair, thinking that she had already won. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, the destination is obvious; everyone knows what the city of sins is," I said. Everybody except Percy, Nico, Kelly, Rachel and Dionysus looked at me, confused.

"You people seriously need to get out of this camp more often," said Nico.

"I agree," said Percy.

"Well, spare us from the sarcasm and-"

"Oh, come on!" I interrupted Thalia, "What bigger indicator do you want than _city of sins_? Tell me; what city in the United States of America is the biggest focal point for all forms of gambling, prostitution, slavery, drugs, partying and every other form of black marketing?" I groaned at the silence that met my words. Kelly was trying very hard not to burst out laughing; apparently she found me funny when I got exasperated.

"Um… English please?" That was the Ares cabin representative. I sighed.

"We're going to Sin City, the Entertainment Capital of the World. We are going, to Las Vegas, Nevada."  
….

_December 16__th__, 2012, 1215 hours – five days before the winter equinox_

"Vegas?"

"Vegas."

"_The _Las Vegas, where the infamous Lotus Hotel and Casino is located, where time doesn't exist, where the risks of things like _The Hangover_ happening are much higher… _That _Las Vegas?"

"No, Will, Las Vegas in Mexico," I paused, "Though I didn't know about the Lotus Hotel being a time warp… that would explain a lot…" I trailed off.

"Why, you've been there?" asked Annabeth with a worried tone.

"No, I've heard of it. Supposedly it was a five-star type of thing, but I never used it since I always had reservations in either the Luxor, or the MGM Grand."

"Rich, much?" she said. _Oops._

"You don't want to know."

"I think I do; if you had that much money to stay in those hotels, you're either a rich pampered kid, lying about his past and pretending to have amnesia, or you've been involved with black marketing." I turned to glare at her, which was _very _intimidating, especially with the demon's dried blood on my face. Annabeth paled _and _flinched, and I could see almost everybody cringing back – they got lucky, since most people fainted. Even Chiron flinched a little.

"No, you don't."

I sank into my seat, pissed off. I'll admit it, I had done _a lot _of bad shit - and not too long ago either - and I didn't like being reminded, even if it was accidentally. Too bad for everyone else, killing that kid today and Annabeth's prodding had brought up the bad memories.

And you know what the fun part of the whole fucking dilemma was?

She had nailed it. _Damn her Athena brain._

I shook my head, shaking myself out my thoughts. I looked at Kelly. She had a poker face on, but I could read her eyes like an open book. They were a mixture of pity, compassion, love… and disappointment. I cringed since she was right; I had let my emotions take over me. Taking a deep breath, I calmed down, and after a while, I relaxed enough to participate in the conversation, which had now turned to the prophecy.

"…the first line is pretty straightforward," Annabeth was saying, "It gives us a deadline, Evil day being the winter equinox. _Speed is of the Essence, _meaning the quest must be done in the least amount of time as possible."

"What about the second line?" asked Percy.

"I think I can help with that," I said. All eyes were on me.

"_Six shall meet six in the city of sins, evil source to be obeyed._ Like I said before, Las Vegas is a focal point for most forms of black marketing, drugs, etc." Annabeth had a _well, duh, _expression on, but I ignored her, "In Vegas, there so happens to be a gang-slash-triad called _The Six. _They deal with pretty much everything: drugs, guns, women… biological agents." At this, Dionysus stiffened behind his wine magazine, and I took mental note of it, being the only one that noticed. "I think that what that line is saying is that the six quest members will have to negotiate a deal with the Sixto be able to get the cure, since what we're looking at is both a godly and biological possession."

Chiron nodded, though his eyes and voice betrayed his worry, "I have heard of the Six. They are known for committing crimes of abduction, public murders, theft… all done without directly involving them. Are you sure about this, David?"

"I'm positive Chiron. In fact, the only reason I know of the Six is because I've dealt with them before." At everybody's incredulous expressions, I chuckled, "What, did you actually expect that I walked into a gun shop and bought all of my weapons with a smile on my face and a fake ID?" The only ones who laughed were the Stoll brothers.

"Ok, then. What's the next line?" asked Percy.

"Um, '_To the 51__st__ twelve must go, the second triplet shall be found in the sleep of death'._ And before you ask, no, I have no idea what any of that means. Annabeth?" I said.

"Well, I have no idea what the 51st might be, much less who the _second triplet _is. I'm guessing that the twelve means that we're going to have to join forces with six others, or with people from the Six."

"Call them Sixes, they like it," I said.

"Ok, sixes, whatever. Still, if we're going to find the _second _triplet, who's the first?" said Annabeth. Dionysus fidgeted again, though this time, Kelly and I were the only ones that noticed. Confession time, again: I had an idea of who the first triplet could be, but until I had more information, I wasn't going to start assuming or giving out any half-assed assumptions.

The only sound in the Arena was that of Clovis' snoring, the head counselor for the Hypnos cabin, which led me to believe that nobody else had any ideas. Hopefully, it would stay that way for some time.

"Let's avoid the last line, since I'm pretty sure that none of us will be able to figure that one out," I said. Dionysus fidgeted for a third time, and this time, both Annabeth and I noticed. We shared a look of silent agreement, and I spoke up, "Am I right, _Lord _Dionysus?" He looked up from his magazine with a bored expression.

"Is your chair confortable, _my lord?_" I asked with a tone as mocking as possible, and everybody stiffened in alarm. Kelly's expression was pleading me to stop, but unfortunately this was one of those moments _where I had to know._ _Great, Annabeth's rubbing off on me_, I thought_._

"Yes, I suppose so, Danny Johansson," he said. I narrowed my eyes at him as I saw knowledge flash in his eyes.

"You seem to be shifting quite a lot, _my lord. _Are you quite sure that you are well?" His eyes flashed in anger. _Gotcha!_

"You seem to be hard of hearing, _Mr. Johnson._ Should I turn you into a dolphin so that you may understand me better?" _Hmm… maybe I went a _little _too far if he used my name._

"No, sir…" I said through clenched teeth, "that won't be necessary." Dionysus smirked in response as he immersed himself once more into his magazine. I could see everybody relax back into their seats in response; that is, until Kelly broke the silence.

"What about the fourth line? _Black Souls' sacrifice to close the pit?_" Annabeth and I shared a glance.

"Let's hope that it's not what I think it is," I answered Kelly, "As for the white demon…" I paused, "That actually sounds kinda racist." Nervous chuckles went around the table.

"So… who will go on the quest?" he asked. Before I could say anything, Annabeth spoke up.

"Take into account that the prophecy calls for six members, three more than what the quest member limit is."

I'm sorry, I just started laughing. After I quieted down, well, let's just say that the expressions I was being given almost made me laugh again.

"None of you people are lawyers, are you?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" she asked. I smirked.

"Well, the way I see it, we're not sending a quest group of six." Annabeth's eyes widened in realization.

"We're sending _two _quest groups of _three,"_ she said. I nodded.

"It's the prophecy of Seven all over again. Talk about a loophole, huh? What do you think, Chiron?" The centaur stroked his beard, pondering the situation.

"I must admit, it is an intriguing idea," he said, "However, something like this has never been attempted before. Who knows how the fates will take this."

"I'm sure they won't mind," I reassured Chiron. _Especially if that second prophecy Rachel gave me came from where I think it did_, I thought_._

"Very well, then," said Chiron, "The prophecy was given to you, David. You are the quest leader, so choose your companions well." I nodded, standing up.

"I'm not going anywhere without Kelly, unless she doesn't-"

"Stop right there before I strangle you!" I grinned at her and blew her a kiss. Lacy, the counselor for the Aphrodite cabin, awed in response.

"Now we all know who manages _that _relationship," said Travis. Two seconds later, a vine rapped itself around his chest and mouth, pulling him back against the ground.

After I stopped chuckling, I continued, "Well, I'm also going to need some brains on this quest even with me onboard, so Percy?"

"Sure. And thanks by the way," he said.

"Hey!" came a not-so-girly voice.

A celestial bronze knife, a telekinetic hold, an angry daughter of Athena, and an accepted quest invitation later, I continued.

"Nico, we'll definitely need you on this quest in case things go south. You want in?"

"Uh, yeah, we're talking about Vegas here!" I grinned.

"Thalia, do you think Lady Artemis would let you go on the quest?" Thalia closed her eyes in response as she prayed.

After a while she nodded, "She says it'll be fine, she's going to lead the Hunt while I'm gone."

"So, David, Kelly, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico are the quest members," said Rachel, "Group one will be composed of David, Kelly and Nico, while group two will be of Percy, Annabeth and Thalia. Now, how are you six going to get to Las Vegas in less than five days?"

"Train?" said Annabeth. I shook my head.

"Believe me when I say that you don't want to get on a train with me. Leave the transportation to me. As long as Argus drops us off at the bus station, we'll be fine," I said. Ignoring the curious looks the others gave me, I went on, "Now go pack up your things and say your goodbyes. Argus and I will meet you at the top of Half-Blood hill in thirty minutes, no more." When none of them moved, I said, "What, you thought I was joking? Get your asses moving!"

I didn't wait to see if they moved, I just grabbed Kelly's hand and pulled her out of the Arena.


	12. I'm on a highway to Vegas

**Enjoy this chapter; I was cracking up half of the time I was writing it. ;D**

**Recommended song: Avicii – Levels (in reverse) (George Monev Edit)**

Chapter 11 – I'm on a Highway to He- I mean, Vegas

_December 16__th__, 2012, 1300 hours – four and a half days before the winter equinox_

As I watched the Delphi Strawberry Service SUV pull away with Argus in the driver's seat, I realized that once more, I had done what I had hoped never to do again. Hopefully, nothing bad would happen to us on the quest, but since I was in the company of five demigods, three of them being children of the Big Three…

"Penny for your thoughts, o mighty quest leader?"

I smiled, reaching behind me and grabbed Kelly's hand, lacing our fingers together.

"For you, they're free, o beautiful second-in-command," I told her. She laughed in response. "I was just thinking about the quest…" She nodded, squeezing my hand in reassurance.

"We'll be fine, especially with you leading us," she said. Before I could answer, Nico came up to me.

"All right, so where to now?" he asked. I could see the others talking in hushed voices a ways, Thalia glancing over her shoulder every now and then. We were at the bus station, the same one where Percy told me he had started his first quest. I looked around, and finally saw the bus we needed to take.

"Annabeth, see if you can get us tickets for bus number 17," I said. She nodded, and I handed her some cash. Thank the gods that the Stolls never managed to find my secret stash; I still had over a thousand dollars from when I was on the run six months ago.

"So where does that bus take us?" asked Percy.

"The Manhattan docks," I said, "and the warehouses surrounding them."  
…..

_December 16__th__, 2012, 1330 hours – four and a half days before the winter equinox_

"Alright, we're here," I said as we got out of the bus, "Keep up with me, will you? Last time I was here, I got stuck in a booby trap." Thalia raised an eyebrow in response while the others just gaped.

"What kind?" she asked.

"Suspension cable supporting a crate with a bulldozer inside. Wasn't pretty."

After manipulating the Mist with the man at the gates, we went into the appropriate warehouse district. There were more than twenty warehouses on each side, and each was over three stories high.

I started to talk, "So, you guys already know that the boats here come from all over the world, right? Well, Europe happens to be one of the most common senders, and they usually ship things like jewelry, spices, that kind of stuff."

Percy, Nico, Thalia, and Kelly were ignoring me, but Annabeth was looking at me with an interested expression.

"So what does that have to do with us?" she asked me.

"Well, the car industry is defined by regions: America's got muscle, Asia defines itself with tuners and stability, and Europe makes itself known with the world famous exotics," I told her.

"Everyone who knows about cars knows that David," said Thalia, "And you didn't answer Annie's question."

"Don't call me that!"

"I was getting to that before I was rudely interrupted," I said, not even looking back at her. When she didn't respond, I automatically ducked the blunt arrow headed for my head. Sure I have telekinesis and all to defend myself, but that didn't mean that I didn't succumb to old habits now and then. Plus, I didn't want to become fully dependent on my powers; what if they suddenly failed me?

I shook my head, and moving to the side, dodged the black-and-silver streak that was Thalia.

"So what you were about to say was that Europe sends their fair share of Exotics to the States and Asia?" asked Annabeth. I nodded.

"And the States sends to Europe and Asia. Most of the time the boats come here, to the docks of New York, but sometimes the ships make year-long trips from New York, to Miami, down the Panama canal, and end up in California," I said, "From there, they keep going across the Pacific and all the way to Japan. They make the trip through the Middle East and finish up back in Europe. And believe me when I tell you that the job pays extremely well. We're here by the way."

I had stopped at a warehouse labeled D51. Annabeth frowned when she saw the number, and I knew that she was thinking about the prophecy. Pulling out the key that I took from the security guard, I opened the lock – which was the size of a small tire – and with Percy and Nico's help, opened the enormous double doors. Inside were three enormous crates, each big enough to hold a car inside. After checking the labels, I used telekinesis on two of the crates, dismantling them and placing the pieces against the far wall.

"Before I was on the run, I had a job that paid well. One day, I saved a gentleman from a certain death, and in return, he gave me these three babies, two of which we'll be taking today," I explained.

I walked over to the first car, and removing the tarp, I revealed a light-blue Maserati Gran Turismo S. After a few moments of searching, I found the small paper with the code for the car. I pressed a small button on the door, and a small transparent keypad appeared on the window, but I didn't input the code. Instead, I walked over to a slack-jawed Percy and gave him the paper with the code.

"Dude, close your mouth or you'll catch flies." He immediately did so, looking at the paper in confusion.

"What are you giving me this for?" I shrugged.

"You know how I showed up late for your birthday party at your house, but I wasn't able to get you a good gift?" – Long story, maybe another time – I continued when he nodded, "Well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I shouted, spreading my arms out - ok, fine, one of the doors of the warehouse did move slightly, but that's not important - and scaring the shit out of the rest of the gang. Except for Percy of course, who was switching his gaze from me, to the Maserati, to the paper in his hands, and back to me. It was actually kind of funny.

"You're serious about this?" he asked me. I just nodded, ignoring the incredulous looks the others gave me.

"David," said Thalia, "You do realize that you are giving Percy Jackson, ADHD Dyslexic Demigod son of Poseidon, a _car?_ In his hands, it's a weapon of mass destruction."

"Hey, I take offense to that!"

"Yes, yes I do," I said, ignoring Percy.

"And what about us? Do we get cars too?" Nico piped up. I rolled my eyes.

"First of all Necro, you're too young to drive. Second of all, Thalia," I turned away from a glaring Nico to a confused Thalia, "what do you prefer, a motorcycle or American Muscle?"

In the end, she wanted a Harley Davidson, and I promised to get it for her birthday, which was six days from now. Annabeth didn't drive, but Kelly wanted a Ferrari, so she would have to wait until next year to get it. Until then, she could drive my new car.

"Which would be…?" I grinned, and pulled off the cover from the other car. I laughed at the other's expressions.

"You have no idea how hard it was for me to get these cars with Nitrous," I said, "So, Perce, take Annabeth and Thalia with you in the Maserati. Nico and Kelly, you're with me."

"And I call shotgun!" said Nico.

"You wish," said Kelly. I intervened before an argument erupted, playing the Kelly's-my-girlfriend-so-she-gets-shotgun card as we started to get into the car.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" I reached into my backpack and pulled out a small radio, "Perce, take this will you?"

"Um, we can't use-"

"I know, we can't use cell phones because they're a flare for monsters," I reminded him, "which is why these are short wave radios. They only communicate with the other, and they don't emit huge signals like cell phones do. Plus, we'll be on the highway, so no monsters will be able to catch up to us." He hesitated, and turned to Annabeth, asking for her opinion.

Annabeth frowned for a few moments, "Well, it's worth a shot."

Fifteen minutes later, the two cars exited the docks, the blue Maserati Gran Turismo S following the yellow Chevrolet Camaro ZR1.  
…..

_December 16__th__, 2012, 1400 hours – four and a half days before the winter equinox_

"Ok Perce, how much gas do you have?" I asked through the radio.

"I still have a full tank, so we're good," came the response.

"Alright, in that case let's get on the interstate ASAP. Follow my lead."

"I know how to get to the highway, Dave."

"Don't call me that. And in that case, whoever gets there first gets a hundred drachmas when we get back. We start on the light"

"Deal's on!"

As we stopped for the red light, Percy stopped to my right, and a blue Prius was on my left. Nico had passed out in the backseat as soon as we made it out of the docks. I was absentmindedly changing the music in the car when I noticed a familiar brown-haired woman in the Prius. Smiling, I opened my window, much to Kelly's confusion.

"Mrs. Blofis!" Said person looked out of her window at me with a confused expression, which morphed into a smile when she recognized me.

"David! Kelly! How nice to see you!" she said.

"Hi Mrs. Blofis!" said Kelly at the same time I said, "It's good to see you too, though I wish the circumstances were better." She immediately got concerned.

"Why? What's wrong, is everyone ok?"

"Everyone's fine, we're just on a quest," I said, "And Percy's in the car next to me." She frowned, and after Kelly and I leaned back to allow her to see Percy in the driver's seat of the Maserati… Well, she downright glared.

"And whose idea was it to give him the car?" I gulped. I had met Sally Blofis a few months ago, and let me tell you something: I was pretty damn sure that no one, not even Percy himself had seen this side of her. Maybe Poseidon had, since there were rumors of him consoling her when he had disappeared for eight months, but that was it. And let me tell you something: Sally Blofis-Jackson's glare was a force to be reckoned with.

"Umm…. Well, see, we kinda have to be in Las Vegas two days from now, and since the highway is slightly faster than a train-"

"_Las Vegas?!"_

_Oh… shit._

Thank the gods the light turned green at that moment. Percy stepped on the accelerator, unknowingly escaping the most dangerous enemy a person can have: their mother.

"Well, Mrs. Jackson, I hate to be rude but we kinda have to go! It was nice talking to you!" I stepped on the gas and hit the Nitrous, the Camaro shooting forward in a burst of speed and acceleration. Thank the gods we didn't do a wheelie.

"That. Was. Close," said Kelly. I could only nod in response as I dodged countless cars in an effort to catch up to Percy.

"Let's not tell anyone about that little encounter shall we?"

"Definitely."

And with that, the Three Doors Down album 'Time of my Life' filled our silence.  
…..

**Well, that was definitely fun. Most people write Sally Blofis-Jackson as a kind and tolerant person, but don't you think that not seeing your child for a year wouldn't change the way you see him/her? It was actually kind of funny…**

**R&R!**


	13. The dangers of Driving

Chapter 12 – The dangers of driving

_December 17__th__, 2012, 0300 hours – four days before the winter equinox_

"Can we stop?" Nico was seriously starting to drive me insane.

"No."

"Please?"

"Nico, you're like a five-year-old. Shut up already, would you? You're going to wake Kelly up."

The radio crackled, and Thalia's voice came through the car speakers. "I hate it, but I'm actually starting to agree with Death Breath."

"Hey!"

"Come on guys, Manhattan to Vegas is at least forty-one hours! At the rate we're going, we'll be there in five hours!"

"That's if we don't stop at all!" yelled Annabeth through the radio. At this, Kelly stirred and let out a small yawn.

"Kelly, please convince David to stop driving!" Nico started to plead with her, and she blinked, confused.

"How long has he been driving?" she asked.

"Eight hours," said Percy through the radio. They must've figured out how to use the Bluetooth to hook it up to the car speakers. And they claimed to be kids that didn't own phones? Go figure. I didn't even know the stupid radios had Bluetooth! Stupid cables…

"Ok, that changes things," said Kelly.

"How so?" I sarcastically asked, already knowing that I would cave in to anything she asked of me. Except maybe killing someone, but I digress.

"First of all, watch your mouth. You don't talk to me like that, that's what Percy's for."

"Hey!" Even through the radio, I could hear the s_mack_. I quickly turned off the radio before Thalia and Percy's shouting came through.

"Second of all, all of us are getting cranky, hungry, and fed up with your shitty tastes in music!"

"Three Doors Down, Skrillex, and Michael Bublé are not shitty, and I asked if you wanted to listen to anything else! And since when do you swear as badly as I do?!"

"Since we started dating!"

"Oh, so it's my fault now?"

"Don't you dare- AARGH!" The last part was a result of me stepping on the brakes and swerving out of the way of the flying dragon that had decided the road in front of us was a landing strip – which by the way, isn't easy when you're going over 250 miles-an-hour and it's pitch black. Thank the gods, or curse them, whatever, the highway was empty, which meant no casualties. Hopefully.

"That's it, I am pissed!" As soon as the car stopped moving I got out of the car, pulling my knives from the sheaths on my back. I charged the dragon, and when it spewed fire at me, I repelled the attack with telekinesis and kept going, throwing one of my knives and lodging it in one of its eyes. As it roared in pain and fury, I jumped onto its tail and used it as a step-ladder, summing my knife with kinesis in the process.

When I reached its ass, I jumped down, stabbing with both knives and cutting off the tail. The dragon roared in pain, and I jumped out of the way of its clawed leg and the acidic blood bursting from the stump where its tail used to be. Stabbing both knives into the fallen tail next to me, avoiding the blood, I swung it, using kinesis to help a bit. The tail smashed into the dragon's wing, and it fell on its side from the force of the blow. After using the moment to put Primus together, I threw it, and it lodged in the right side of the dragon's face.

I ran to the dragon, jumping into the air and grabbing onto Primus while snake-ass – yes, I know, get better insults – was getting up. As expected, the dragon buckled its head upwards, throwing me – and Primus – off of it and into the air. Spinning in the air and holding Primus against me to maximize spin, I let myself reach the maximum height I could, which was about thirty feet. When I felt gravity start to lose its hold on me, I extended my legs and grabbed the swordstaff by the middle with one hand. As I started to fall, I waited for the perfect moment when the combination of my still spinning and falling body would give Primus the speed it needed. And the moment came, alright.

I threw Primus with all my strength, the swordstaff shooting downwards at the speed of an arrow. The dragon – stupid animal that it was – was looking for me on the ground, so it never noticed me nor the swordstaff headed for its head like a javelin. Primus' adamantine blade sank in all the way, with the stygian iron staff following its path into snake-ass's skull, killing it and pinning it to the ground.

Spreading my arms and legs to stabilize myself, I slowed myself down as much as I could with my limbs, and when the ground was close enough, I tucked into a roll, turning the impact into a somersault and coming up standing.

"Whoo!" I shouted, skipping once and doing a fist-pump as I ran to the dragon's carcass. I kinetically summoned Primus out of the dragon's skull, and with the staff, knocked out a few dragon's teeth, about ten of them. Sure they were big, each one about the size of my fist, but they could come in handy as spartus warriors. Levitating the teeth, I walked back to the car, where I was amused to find everyone with vines on their legs. I looked at Kelly with an inquiring expression, and she just shrugged.

"I told them that you needed to get it out of your system, but they insisted." I chuckled as she released the lot of them from the vines.

"So… who wants food and a change of clothes?"  
…..

_December 17__th__, 2012, 0700 hours – four days before the winter equinox_

As we pulled into the rest stop, I could literally feel everybody's relief when they saw the different varieties of restaurants at the stop: KFC, McDonald's, BK, Pizza Hut, Fuddruckers, Monster Donuts…

Wait a second…

Fuddruckers?!

"You guys go on ahead, start your orders. Percy, here, fill up the Maserati's tank." I threw small rolls of twenty's each as I started to load gas into the Camaro ZL1. It was a great car and all, but the fuel economy _sucks._ Thank the gods I didn't get a Dodge or a Hemi Cuda.

"So… where the Hades are we?" asked Percy when the others had left.

"Somewhere in Utah, still on the I-70 West. We still need about an hour of driving before we get to Nevada, and another hour to get to Vegas, since with the holidays and all that road's gonna be clogged." I told him, and he frowned.

"David, you never did tell us why we couldn't go by train to Vegas. I mean, it would probably take us half the time it will to get there," said Percy. I opened my mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of at least twenty to thirty cars speeding away on the highway.

"Must be the Run," I yelled Percy before he could ask, "A street race that starts in San Francisco and end at the Empire State Building in NYC. The pot is over 25 million." Percy's jaw dropped.

"Remind me why we're not racing? I mean, we do have the cars…" I face-palmed.

"First of all, we're on a quest. Second of all, we're also headed in the opposite direction. And third of all, Clarisse will die if we don't get back in time." I turned away from Percy's blushing face and put the gas hose back into the pump since it had finished. Getting back into the car, I turned it on and moved it closer to the restaurants. Okay, fine, closer to Fuddruckers, happy?

Walking inside, I wasn't surprised to find Nico in front of the cashier asking for his order. What _did_ surprise me was the fact that Kelly was waiting in line right behind him. I sneaked up to her, hugging her from behind and kissing her cheek. She leaned back into me, and we stayed in that position until we had to order.

After everyone had eaten and freshened up, we started to head back to the cars when I realized that I didn't have my keys on me.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back, I think I left the keys in the bathroom or something," I told them. I walked back into the restaurant, heading straight for the bathroom. There was only one person inside, and he happened to be using the stall I was in when I changed clothes. I sat on the counter, patiently waiting for him to finish his business.

When he finally exited the stall, I asked him if he had seen some keys inside of the stall, and he smiled, sending a chill of anticipation down my back.

"You mean these?" he said, holding them in the palm of his hand, while pulling a knife out with his other.

_Uh-oh._

Suddenly, he threw the keys at me, and I spun in a clockwise direction to the left, extending my right arm to block the stab aimed for my head while punching him with my left hand in the kidney. The combined force of my spin and the punch I blocked gave me enough momentum to deliver a blow strong enough to break a rib. He bent over, clutching his side in pain.

Reaching with my right hand around his still-extended arm, I backhanded him in the face, stunning him long enough for me to grab him from the hair with my other hand and smash his face onto the counter. He slumped to the floor, and kicked the back of my knee, sending me to the ground. He immediately pounced on me and tried to stab my neck, but I grabbed his hand and elbowed him in the neck. I put some pressure on the knife in his hand, and after some effort it clattered to the ground. He then jumped onto my back and tried to choke me, and I jumped up and slammed him into the wall. Momentarily stunned, his grip loosened a bit, and I took advantage to escape his choke hold by pulling him down and over me.

His head hit the tile floor with a sickening _crack._ When he didn't move, I checked his pulse, and after making sure that he was only unconscious, I searched his pockets, taking his wallet and keys. I grabbed my own keys from the floor, and after propping him on top of the toilet inside a stall, locking the door, flushing the knife down said toilet, and climbing out of the stall, I exited the bathroom.

Walking outside, I pressed the alarm on the hit man's car keys. A Black Corvette beeped, and I moved to it, unlocking the door and climbing inside without my friends noticing.  
…

"So what was the deal with that Corvette?" I looked at Thalia, who was driving after she and Nico switched cars. Annabeth was driving the Maserati now, so that Percy could sleep after eight hours of nonstop driving – and before you ask, no, I wasn't guilty about it either, especially since I could do up to forty hours.

No joke.

"Probably one of those racers from the Run," I lied smoothly, "he probably thought that we were in the competition, and decided to jump me in the bathroom. Too bad for him, Corvettes don't run on diesel."

Thalia laughed, and Kelly told us to shut-up from the backseat, saying, and I quote, "people do have to sleep sometime, you know! Didn't your alien leaders tell you that before they sent you here?!" I chuckled, and leaned the seat back a little, closing my eyes; if my suspicions were correct, I would need all the sleep I could get.

What I had told Thalia – and by extension, the rest of the gang – was partly true. The hit man _did _try to sabotage us, but he wasn't trying to stop the quest. No, his motives were a little more concentrated than that. Because chances were that he wasn't even a demigod.

No, he was definitely an assassin, and a rookie at that.

And he had been out for my blood.


	14. Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

**Recommended song of the day: Strobe – Deadmau5  
…..**

Chapter 13 – Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

_David…_

_David…_

_David…_

_The voices kept repeating my name, over, and over, and over. I couldn't discern nor recognize any of them, and they only kept growing louder with each call. I was blind, and could not feel anything or anyone... and yet, I somehow knew that Thalia Grace was next to me still driving my Camaro, and Kelly Dunstan was behind me. It was as if even asleep I was constantly monitoring my surroundings._

_So naturally, when the voices were silenced and the images started, I paid attention to them, even more so than usual._

_A city, filled with multicolored lights and buildings. A street right in the middle, with the biggest buildings on each side. It wasn't until a bright beam of light erupted from a pyramid-like structure that I realized that I was looking at the city of Las Vegas. And the view of Sin City was beautiful. Suddenly, the image zoomed in to the Vegas Strip. It focused specifically on a group of six teenagers, all of which were looking around warily and clutching several items in their hands._

_Before I could get any details, the image blurred out, and suddenly I could see the desert below me. To the north, east, and west, lay nothing but barren desert and mountains; to the south, the sky-beam of light produced by the Luxor hotel and Casino; and below me, an aura of extreme evil and malevolence so great that it seemed as if Tartarus itself had opened._

_The image blurred once more, and when it came back into focus, there was a figure standing in front of me. It was a woman, about my height and dressed in a black cloak that covered her face. She stood tall and proud, and she held in one hand a small dagger, with a scroll in the other. A crossbow was slung across her back, with a quiver of bolts hanging from her belt. What unnerved me to a certain extent however, were the stains of the front of her cloak that looked like blood. Freshly spilt blood._

_One thing I was sure off: this woman radiated power._

_Godly power._

"_Hello, David Johnson," she said in a whisper, "I am Insidia, the Roman Goddess of Treacherous Ambush, she who stalks the dark and guides the assassin's blade."_

_If I could've said anything, I would've asked her why she was here, but as it was, I couldn't even move. This was the patron goddess of assassins; definitely not a person to piss off._

"_In the times of Rome, I was widely praised. Roman Officials and Senators would sacrifice both animals and fellow mortals to me, asking me for protection against those who would plot against them and asking for me to spill the blood of their enemies. Then Rome fell._

"_For two thousand years, I was forgotten, except by those who only worshipped me for selfish reasons; Romans and mortals whose intentions were to spill the blood of others for their own gain. Then one day, I received a strange sacrifice. It was unique because the intentions behind the sacrifice were pure, even if the person sacrificing to me had blood on their hands. Yesterday, you sacrificed to me, David Achilles Johnson. And I am not one to forget a debt... or a friend."_

_She reached behind her and grasped the handle of her crossbow, which I noticed was pitch-black. As she held it in her hands, I saw that the lath – the bow – had an inscription running on the front of it. 'I am the Ambush, unknown, unseen, and unheard,' I read. The ends of the lath were curved outwards, and there was no bow-string. The stock of the crossbow had a pitch-black falcon's head on the front, with the beak open and pointing slightly upwards while the falcon's head and body continued over the stock, with the tail ending at the shoulder-guard and the wings extending to the sides and into the lath. It was a beautiful weapon, and conveyed a sense of power._

_She held the crossbow in one hand while with the other she removed the bolt-quiver from her waist. When she finished, she held them out to me, and suddenly I could move again. I took the feather-light Ambush in my right hand and propped it against my shoulder as I hooked the quiver onto my waist like Insidia had. When I was done, I peered down the sights of Ambush, noticing that the falcon's beak was perfect for aiming._

_Insidia started to whisper once more, "As long as you wield Ambush, it shall be hard-pressed to miss its target. Wind has no sway over it, and you need not worry about the bolts; they will harm both mortal and immortal, and shall vanish when you have achieved what you desired with the target, and shall reappear in the quiver. Lastly, if you are in the shadows, Ambush shall shield you and your companions from enemy eyes. Use it well."_

_Then, she extended her hands at me, and small tendrils of shadow started to circle her hands, forming a palm-sized vial with a golden liquid inside that looked suspiciously like ichor, the blood of immortals._

"_It is the Golden Blood of Asclepius, God of Medicine and immortal son of Apollo. To demigods, it will perform miracles, but to mortals, it is the deadliest poison. Use it well._

"_These are my gifts to you, David Johnson. You are returning to your past, and the Fates have deemed your survival necessary, so I give you my blessing so that you may survive the events to come. Now wake!"  
_….

_December 17__th__, 2012, 0900 hours – four days before the winter equinox_

"David."

My eyes opened, and my breathing rate and heartbeat quickened as I woke up. I stretched in my seat, covering my mouth from the yawn that escaped.

"We're almost to the city, wake Kells up," said Thalia. I looked at her, and then at the still-sleeping Kelly in the backseat. Her expression was completely relaxed and at peace, and I could feel myself relaxing as well. Gods, she was just so beautiful… and I was so hopelessly love-struck.

I shook my head, and reaching over to her face, I softly stroked her cheek with my hand. She smiled and leaned into my hand, opening her eyes. She grabbed my hand and held it against her face, giving it a small kiss.

"Now this is how I should be woken up every day," she said, her eyes twinkling. I grinned in response.

"Well," I said, pulling her hand with mine and giving it a kiss on the back, "that can certainly be arranged, though I don't think your mom would like it. Or your sisters; they might get…" I adopted a husky voice, "jealous." I winked at her, and she laughed at my expression, though she did shiver slightly. _I guess all that training _did _pay off somehow,_ I thought as I sat back into my seat.

I heard Thalia mutter, "Boys," and I chuckled at her expense.

"So how far are we from Vegas?" asked Kelly.

"We'll be there in thirty minutes," I said. At this point on the highway, we could see the tallest buildings and Casinos of Las Vegas.

True to my prediction, thirty minutes later we had already passed all the suburbs of Las Vegas and were heading towards the Strip. I gave Thalia directions into the city, and Annabeth followed us in the Maserati. I started a conversation with Annabeth about the different buildings through the radio. After a while, though, Percy woke up.

"Hey David, now that we're in Vegas, what's the plan?" he asked through the radio.

"First off, we need to check into a hotel, find a place to stay in. Once we've done that, I call up some old contacts of mine, see if they can give us any information to find the Sixes," I said.

"Hold up," said Annabeth, "I thought you said that you knew how to find them."

"It's not that simple. The Sixes make their deals through third-parties or by proxy. If you want to make a deal with them, you have to climb up the black-market ladder to get to them, and even then you don't deal with them directly."

"And how long will that take?" asked Thalia.

"About a day or two," I said. Cue the groans. "Guys, don't worry, we'll find the antidote for Clarisse, kick some ass, and get back to Camp before the equinox. Simple as that."

"David, news flash: We are demigods," said Percy, "Nothing is ever easy for us."

I paused, "Touché."  
….

_December 17__th__, 2012, 1000 hours – four days before the winter equinox_

Ok, so long story short. After we made it into the city, I insisted on stopping and taking a picture in front of the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign. I know, I don't look like the picture type, but hey, this _is _Vegas we're talking about here.

Yeah I know, weak argument.

After the picture and blending in as tourists visiting the city of sins, we headed into the Vegas Strip. I took over the wheel so that the others could stick their heads out and look at the city while I drove us to the hotel. Well, in my case I just lowered the top on the Camaro. Ah, one of the perks of a convertible: Girls _love them_.

Still, I guess the fact that we were in Las Vegas didn't sink in until I told everyone to get out of the car. I popped open the trunk and left the car running for the valet to park as busboys hurried to grab our bags out of the trunks and place them on a cart. After I received my valet ticket, I motioned for everyone to follow me, slinging an arm around Kelly's shoulders as I led the way into the hotel. I walked up to the clerk and started to negotiate our stay.

In the end, after much nagging in my ear and ignoring the rest, I made sure that we would be staying in a five-thousand-dollar-a-night suite, which included free 24-7 room service and eat-all-you-want amounts of food. After handing over the rest of my cash, which was about two-thousand, I promised that I would pay the rest by the end of day, getting really weird looks from everybody.

"Enjoy your stay in the Luxor Hotel and Casino," said the clerk with a smile.

"Thank you," I said, taking our key-cards and handing them to the rest. As we got into the elevator, the busboy with our bags following us, Annabeth started to talk but I interrupted her before she could say anything.

"_Listen,"_ I said in Ancient Greek,_ "we'll be here for a week, and believe me when I tell you that 'blending in' in Vegas means 'spend as much money as you can'. Relax."_

"_And the money?"_ she asked in the same language, _"Camp can't afford that much-"_

"_Who said anything about borrowing from Camp? I have over half-a-million dollars in a US bank account, and even more in a European bank."_ Ok, I'll admit I was lying, but I did have a lot of money being kept by friends and stashed away in different places… I just had to get it all back somehow. _"Besides, when you see the suite, you won't want to leave it."_

Annabeth harrumphed in response, and Percy gave her a one-armed hug in an attempt to calm her down. The rest were still glaring at me, and I rolled my eyes at their antics. There were many reasons why I had chosen the suite, pleasure being one of them, and I just couldn't explain them until we were in the suite.

After about ten minutes, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. We followed the busboy to the room, even if I already knew my way. I stuck my key into the electronic lock, and after hearing the resulting _click,_ I opened the double doors all the way, smirking when I heard the gasps of the others behind me.

The most common color was white. White walls, white sofas, white chairs… The ceiling was painted in black, and the floor alternated between grey carpets and wood paneling. The far wall was entirely out of glass, giving a spectacular view of Las Vegas and the Nevada desert. The living room had a bar on one side, and there was a corridor to the left of us, leading to the kitchen and dining room, and further on, the rooms. Each room had a king-sized bed, with remote-controlled drapes, flat-screen 50-inch TV's, AC… you name it. And each room had a bathroom with a Jacuzzi the size of a small pool.

Annabeth didn't even complain once about the check anymore.

"Forget it," said Percy after we had chosen our rooms, "the next time we're going on a quest, David comes with us."

Everybody nodded in agreement and I laughed at the fact that not five minutes ago they had been about to lynch me because of a hotel fare. Go figure.

Ah, the terrible moment when you remember the extremely-unpleasant job that you don't want anyone else to find out about.

"Glad you like the suite," I answered with a false-that-doesn't-look-so-false smile, "Get comfortable and rest up guys. Tomorrow, we look for the sixes. Annabeth, here's a drachma, IM Chiron and tell him where we are."

"Where are you going?" Kelly asked me.

"To find the Sixes," I said as I exited the suite.  
…..

_December 17__th__, 2012, 1600 hours – four days before the winter equinox_

"Hey buddy, you going to drink that?"

I looked up at the guy who asked me for the drink. Scrawny looking, thin, rags for clothes… and a look in the eye that reminded me of Dionysus.

Where was I, you ask? A rundown bar in the middle of fuckin' Vegas, looking for a group whose members are so elusive that every time they go to the bathroom, their dumps disappear.

Yeah I know, pathetic. Still, it was the only lead I had, and with big groups like the sixes, you had to start at the bottom, since rookies tended to slip up. That is, _if _there were any rookies going around and spending money getting drunk.

"Go ahead." I waved at the guy to take the almost-empty glass, and he downed the glass, coughing and sputtering because of the alcohol.

"Ben! How many times have I told you that I don't want you inside this bar?!" The bartender, a young girl who looked around twenty shouted at the drunk, who I now knew to be called Ben.

"Fuck you Tracy, I'll do whatever the fuck-"

"The girl's asking you to leave," came a voice that made me stiffen slightly in surprise, "I would suggest that you do as she asks."

Ben angrily turned around, but quickly paled at the sight behind me. I didn't even turn around.

"Uh, sure miss," said Ben in a small voice as he ran out of the bar.

"Tracy, could I have another rum and coke? _Flor de Caña, centenario_ edition please." I asked the bartender as the unknown-yet-known female sat on the stool next to me. The bartender nodded, watching the blonde next to me pocket her Desert Eagle.

"You always did ask for the weirdest shit," she said as she motioned for Tracy to bring her a drink as well.

"And you never could resist making an entrance," I retorted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl's lips twitch into a smile.

"Wouldn't be me if I resisted."

"Touché." I looked at her as Tracy set my drink in front of me. "You go for plastic surgery?" I asked her.

"No," she frowned, "Why?"

"Because you haven't changed a bit. Except for the hair, though that's more personal taste than anything for me." Dianne Collins rolled her eyes at me as she opened her arms.

"Not giving the hug until you pocket the needle," I told her, nonchalantly sipping my drink. She sighed, taking off her ring and putting it in her pocket. _Then _I gave her a hug.

"It's good to see you," I told her when we parted. She smiled at me.

"When did you come back into town?"

"Just today."

"How long?"

"Not much."

"Business or Pleasure?"

"What do you think?"

"What do you think that I think?"

"You're wishing pleasure but you know it's business."

She frowned. "I don't usually nail it."

I grinned. "You never do. Didn't anyone ever tell you that you can't lie to a liar?"

"Fuck you." I laughed at her pout. "But seriously, why'd you come back? Everyone that hates you is out looking for you. LA, NYC, Chicago… they're everywhere, and they still couldn't find you. Last I heard they lost you in NYC."

"I'm still the best out there, Dianne."

She held up a hand. "I go by Jean now." At my expression, she elaborated, "Messed up job, as usual. Not my fault though." I nodded.

"Jean. If I wanted to, you could look at me right now and not recognize me at all," I told her, and she raised an eyebrow, "Plus, you know how well I cover my tracks."

She nodded. "You taught me everything I know," she affirmed.

"Bingo! We have a winner!" I said, layering my voice with sarcasm.

"You didn't answer my question." I drank some more rum in response, predicting her reaction. Dianne, or Jean, mimicked my action, though she drank more deeply than I did.

"I need to contact _them._" Cue the spitting and a cursing bartender.

"_What?" _

I shrugged. "A friend needs something, and they're the only ones that can get it. It's as simple as that."

"Peter, are you _out of your fucking mind_? Do you _want _to die?" Oh right, used to be called Peter once upon a time.

"Not yet."

"Then take my advice and get the hell out of this city. Go back to whatever shithole you were hiding in, and lay low for the next fifty years, _comprende_?"

"Can't do that."

"_Why?" _I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Jean-Dianne Collins, concerned?" I said, grinning when she blushed, "Who's the guy?"

"Does it fucking matter?" My smile crashed to the floor.

"Oh no… don't tell me… not an _innocent._"

She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again, but she did not say a word. Finally, her expression steeled, but a lone tear escaped nonetheless. I hugged her again, rubbing her back as she started to sob.

Now, this for me was a pretty shocking moment, especially since I understood her pain. What we called 'innocents' were simply people who were not aware of the dark world that surrounded them; people who simply did not know about our double lives.

Most of us envied them.

Another interesting fact: if someone had walked up to me yesterday, and told me that Jean-Dianne Collins, my former pupil – yes, I'll admit it, ex-girlfriend – was going to fall in love, I would've laughed. If that certain someone would've pressed on, saying that she was going to fall in love with an innocent, they would've killed me with my own laughter. Dianne – or Jean, whatever – was someone who's favorite method of killing involved sex and a knife, so you can imagine the ridiculousness of someone like her falling in love.

And yet, there were two of those people sitting at the bar. But, I digress.

Falling in love in our line of business was risky. Most assassins and thieves would simply keep their affairs in secret, sometimes throwing different excuses out and planting rumors that would protect their lovers. When two assassin's/thieves fell in love, superiors and colleagues simply kept an eye on them. The problem occurred when we fell in love with innocents; protecting them would become the criminal's full-time job, and if someone found out, both the innocent and the criminal were killed, immediately.

Sometimes, if the punisher was feeling merciful, they would have the lovers kill each other.

After a while, Jean's tears stopped, and she pulled away from the hug, looking awkward. I gave her a small smile, and I received one in return.

"Did anyone follow you on the way here?" I asked her. When she shook her head no, I got up from the bar stool, leaving a one-hundred dollar bill for Tracy the bartender and motioning for Jean to follow me. We walked out of the bar, getting into my Camaro and driving away.

After some mindless driving, I popped the question.

"Did they…?"

She shook her head, and I frowned.

"How many?"

"I don't know," she said, "They're taking special interest in me because of… well, you." I nodded.

"How much is my head?" She looked up, glaring at me.

"Don't even think about it." I raised an eyebrow.

"Judging from your reaction, I'd say more than a million, but less than a billion… Half?" When she didn't answer, I smirked, "I'm offended, I would've thought that I made the billion… but _half? _It's insulting actually."

"Stop feeding your ego, it'll explode one of these days," was all she said.

More mindless driving. This time, the silence was broken by Jean.

"How was retirement?"

I took a while before answering.

"I fell in love too."

"Congrats."

"Thanks. You too."

"How did you do it?"

"Didn't hold back a single detail."

"How'd she take it?"

"After the screaming and all the avoiding? Pretty well, actually."

Jean sighed, "The assassin's dreams of love."

I could only nod, "Indeed."

After a while, we were out in the desert. I slowed down lightly so that I could lower the top on the Camaro, and after that, we were speeding away from Vegas. Jean let her hair loose, and I let go of the steering wheel, throwing my hands into the air as we started to hit one-fifty. Sure we were two professional assassins, one of us retired, but we were still young; me at sixteen – I think – and Jean – last I checked – at nineteen. We were two of the youngest assassin's around, and I was pretty sure that our age, most teenagers would be doing the exact same thing we were, especially after a few drinks.

Two hours later, I dropped Jean off in front of the MGM; technically I had taken her cruising when she was on a job. As Jean started to go through the glass doors, I called her name. She turned to me, and I motioned for her to wait. I handed the keys to a valet, and I walked up to Jean, ignoring her incredulous expression.

"I need cash. Seventy-thirty, in your favor. For old times' sake." I didn't even wait for her answer as I walked into the hotel.

Viva Las Vegas, baby.

**I am so, so sorry for taking two weeks to update. This chapter was extremely hard for me to write, and I haven't even started on chapter 14. In my defense, I do have something planned, though it'll be more of a filler chapter than anything.**

**Anyways, don't be shy to subscribe and fill in that review box down below!**

**Signing Off,  
Helios Spirit**


	15. Shit hits the fan

**Recommended song of the day: Wake up, Adam K ft. Naan. Note that these songs have nothing to do with the story, and I do not recommend that you listen to these tracks while reading. However, if you **_**do **_**know of a song that could go hand-in-hand with this story, feel free to leave it in a review :D  
…**

Chapter 14 – Shit hits the fan

_December 19__th__, 2012, 0800 hours – two days before the winter equinox_

"Two days, David. We've wasted two days in Las Vegas that could've been used to find the sixes. Not that I'm complaining, but don't think that our situation could use a little more focus?"

I raised my head from the breakfast bar – yes, the suite actually had a breakfast bar – and glared at Annabeth, who ignored me.

"I mean, first off, we don't even know what we're looking for. We don't know if Clarisse actually has a virus, and we don't know how she is, since Iris Messaging's down."

_Huh… didn't see that one coming… oh, who gives a fuck. _I set my head throbbing head against the table again, partially tuning Annabeth out. Percy and the others fidgeted nervously in the stools around the bar, while Kelly held my hand as Annabeth ranted.

"…leads to the fact that we can't even ask Camp, or Chiron, for help or backup if we were to need it."

_Ha! Camp would be crushed in the blink of an eye._

"… not even sure if you know what you're doing, since you go out without telling anyone where you're going or what you're doing… "

_Believe me that you don't want to know._

"…don't even pay attention when I'm talking to you! You're a useless, spoiled brat that goes around waving their gun and threatening anyone that gets in your way!"

Silence.

"You_ did not _just say that."

I raised my head, looking at Annabeth with my best poker face. She was currently glaring at me, as if it was going to magically work out of the blue. Different scenarios went through my head, most of which involved death for a certain daughter of Athena. Naturally, I chose one without her death to save myself from the paperwork later.

I smiled at her.

Annabeth blinked, and I took advantage of the moment to start my little speech.

"Do you honestly believe what you just said?" I asked her.

"How couldn't I, if you-"

"Do all the work that you people can't do, while saving your demigod asses at the same time?" I stood from the stool and pulled one of my berrettas from my belt, extending the gun to Annabeth, handle first.

"Take the gun," I told her.

"Why should I?"

"Because if you truly believe what you're saying about me and this quest is true, then you will do this little test of mine," I paused, "Unless you don't feel yourself capable enough to do it?" I knew that she wouldn't refuse; her hubris would compel her. Sure enough, she grabbed the gun, albeit reluctantly.

"Ok... what's this test of yours?" she asked me. I merely took off my (new) windbreaker, revealing the Kevlar bulletproof suit I was wearing. Ignoring everybody, I took it off, leaving me with a T-shirt.

"I want you, Annabeth Chase, the great daughter of Athena and Architect of Olympus…" I said in the most mocking tone I could muster, smirking at her expression of rage.

"What?"

I paused dramatically, before speaking, "I want you to aim that gun at me, and shoot me." I pointed where my heart was, "Right here."  
…

_December 18__th__, 2012, 1000 hours –three days before the winter equinox_

"So, after one year on the run with a bounty on your head, you think you can just pop up in Vegas, shoot someone, and claim the money for yourself?"

I shrugged, "Used to work for me in the past. Who's to say that it won't work now?"

"I am, you little piece of shit!" I looked back at the man everyone would call 'The Cloak', raising an eyebrow at his outburst.

"Did you get replaced in the year that I was gone? 'Cause the Cloak I knew wasn't so… melodramatic."

The Cloak wore a mask, so I wasn't sure, but I was willing to bet Primus that his face was purple with rage.

"Look, when I left, I was considered the best of the best. Now I'm back, and I'm still the best of the best. I'm willing to pay off my bounty, but I don't happen to have the money on me at this moment, nor will I have it within the next, say, two, three months? I retired one year ago, but I'm willing to work for you again. Savvy?"

"And I'm supposed to believe that you're here out of the goodness in your heart?"

"What you believe is your problem. As you know, war is a very profitable business, and with the current situation… Let's just say that being in the right place at the right time will get you a position of power higher than the Illuminati ever did."

The Cloak didn't respond, which confirmed my suspicions about the new change in directive.

When I had left, the Cloak in power was one of the best that the Sixes had ever had. She had been a personal friend of mine, since she had been one of my trainers, me being her last student. After a while, she vanished, and the Cloak was rumored to have changed. After talking to the Cloak, I put two and two together. If she had been a demigod, I would bet that she was either a daughter of Athena/Minerva or Nike/Victoria. Her leadership was so great, the Sixes evolved from being a State underground black market, into a worldwide black market organization.

In those days, the Sixes went to war with the other underground markets across the world, even going as far to challenge the Middle Eastern black market. I had left when the fighting was diminishing, but last I heard, the Sixes were still the number one out there, even if they were headed in a decline.

Now I knew why the Sixes were in a decline. At this rate, this moron was going to bring down the organization with his stupidity and pride alone within the next few months, and that was going to be a record for an organization of great reach.

Yes, I'm actually praising an organization that was responsible for the rape and murder of twenty Asian prostitutes in a single night. What the press doesn't tell you is that said 'prostitutes' were actually the elite guard of the head of… Actually, I'll spare you the details.

Now, you may be asking yourself, 'Doesn't this sound a little far-fetched?'

My friend, I agree with you completely, and I was there.

That came out wrong… somehow.

I digress. Now that I knew that the previous Cloak had been replaced, I was starting to have my doubts about what I was planning, especially since I knew that this move could put the entire quest in jeopardy.

Not that we were doing any progress anyways.

"What do you want?" the Cloak finally asked.

"Information," I told him. Voice changer or no, I was starting to get an idea of who the 'new' Cloak was. The Cloak leaned forward in his chair, interlacing gloved fingers on his desk.

"You realize that your current bounty exceeds five hundred thousand _millions_, right? You won't be able to-"

"Yeah, you're definitely new," I snapped, losing my patience, "because otherwise, you'd know that I've been in this business long enough to know what I'm doing."

I could practically see the Cloak smiling behind his mask.  
…..

_December 19__th__, 2012, 0810 hours – two days before the winter equinox_

"_Excuse me?"_

I held out a hand to stop Kelly from getting up, and she hesitated before lowering herself back into her chair. I kept my gaze on Annabeth, whose expression had gone from irritated and confused, to surprised and – I dare say it – a little fearful.

"David, what-"

"Nico, now is not the time," I told him, my eyes not leaving Annabeth's, "So Annabeth, are going to pull the trigger or not?"

She looked from me to the gun in her hands, her face slightly pale and her eyes growing in size. "Ok, I had my doubts before, but now I'm sure that we need to get you to a mental hospital."

"Been there, done that, bought the souvenirs," I informed her. Before she could elaborate on that, I spoke, "But that's not the point of this whole thing here. You are the one in a position of power, Annabeth. You're holding the gun. It's loaded, chambered, and the trigger's just waiting to be pulled. So will you, or will you not shoot the damn gun, or do I have to hold your hand every step of the way!?"  
…..

_December 18__th__, 2012, 1200 hours –three days before the winter equinox_

"So that's it? The whole job sounds a bit too easy."

"That's it."

"What's the catch?"

"He's CIA."

"Ooh, I'm so scared."

"Then there's nothing else to talk about. Put a bullet in his head already, would you?"

I looked at the man in the file. Typical American guy, about 5'11", blonde hair, blue eyes, swaggers when he walked as far as I could tell from the picture. Apparently he had been seen snooping around one of the warehouses belonging to the Sixes. "Back in my day, we had to do entire high-priority job with no starting information to get initiated. You're practically handing this guy over on a silver platter."

The informant raised an eyebrow, looking at me through the metal bars with an incredulous expression, "And I'm sure that back in your day, questioning orders was not tolerated. That hasn't changed, asshole. Get the guy to HQ, kill him, and come back to get your money."

And with that, he clanged the metal grate shut.

"Bitch," I muttered as I walked to the – borrowed – Aston Martin waiting for me on the curb.  
…

_December 19__th__, 2012, 0815 hours – two days before the winter equinox_

Silence reigned in the Hotel Suite. My gaze was focused solely on Annabeth, but I could see her eyes flicking nervously from me, to the gun in her hands, to our little audience, and back again to me.

_She's probably wondering why the others haven't said squat, _I thought, _though it's not as if they doing it willingly._

Annabeth's hands started shaking, the gun in her hands starting to point in all directions. I started to worry about what would happen if she pulled the trigger when it wasn't even pointed at me… say, at Percy.

_Looks like someone needs a little persuasion, _I thought.

And with that pleasant thought, I pulled my other berretta, chambered it, and pointed it at Annabeth's head.

That broke everyone from the spell. Shouts of alarm went up along with the sounds of swords unsheathing and a bowstring being pulled back. Even Kelly pulled her _Gladius _out of its ring form.

"David, this is going too far-" she started to say, but I interrupted her.

"Everyone sit down, or I'll pull the trigger," I said over the clamor. Annabeth now looked like an _empousa _at this point with how pale her skin was.

"Who will it be Annabeth? You or me? Because I'm going to start counting, and if you let me finish, I'll pull my trigger," I informed her, my voice like steel, "So what will it be?"

I felt the cool touch of celestial bronze on my neck, "At the rate you're going, _Johnson, _it'll be you if you don't that gun down."

I didn't even flinch, "If you stab me, my body will automatically respond. My finger will pull the trigger, whether you like it or not, and you will have two dead bodies to get rid of. So think wisely before you act, _Jackson."_

"Everybody just SHUT THE FUCK UP!" screamed Kelly before Percy could answer.  
….

_December 18__th__, 2012, 2000 hours –three days before the winter equinox_

I was surrounded by silence.

The Cloak was standing next to me, his whip uncoiled and ready to use. We were looking at the unconscious man tied to the chair, neither of us making a move nor a sound as we observed. Jean came in after a while, raising an eyebrow when she saw the man.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked.

"About four hours," I said.

"Damn, how hard did you hit him?"

"Hard enough."

Jean chuckled, but a glance from the Cloak silenced her. Sure, the… person had a mask on, but it was common knowledge: if the Cloak's paying attention, you're dead. Even I had my doubts about going up against the Cloak, and that was saying something. Though if my suspicions were correct… Well, that would change things, wouldn't it?

Now, I'm sure most people would ask themselves: Who the fuck is the Cloak? Let's see, Leader of the Sixes, Unknown Identity, and (sometimes) complete dick, with a hint of pride and ignorance. Shaken, not stirred.

I was broken from my thoughts by the man in the chair stirring. I immediately walked over to him, pulling the sack from his face. He opened his eyes, looking around in confusion until his gaze settled on me.

"I know you…"

I scoffed, "Yeah, I was the asshole who knocked you out. With a slap. Seriously bro, you need to work out more."

He shook his head, "No, no, no… Not what I meant…"

That got the Cloak's attention, "Then speak, before I lose my patience and end your life painfully with a spoon!" I exchanged a glance with Jean, like, _what the fuck? _This guy took the expression 'going medieval' _way_ too seriously. Even the CIA guy was looking at him like he had just said an expression that belonged in the eighteenth century. Which he had, by the way. Just saying.

"This is the guy that runs the show around here?" CIA guy said, looking at me with an expression that said, _And you listen to him?_

Can you blame Jean and me for cracking up? I mean, seriously, there was no better moment for that.

The Cloak however, did not share our amusement. His hands tightened on his hip, and it whistled through the air, lashing out to CIA guy with deadly power.

And promptly missed.

At this point, Jean and I were holding onto each other for support, we were laughing so hard. Even then I could hear the whip whistle again and again, and the Cloak curse every time the whip missed the guy. As for CIA guy, he was undecided between flinching and smiling every time the whip missed.

Finally, I guess the Cloak managed to get a hang of the weapon as I heard the CIA guy cry out in pain. It took me a while, but I managed to calm down enough to stand at attention while the Cloak hit the CIA guy again and again with the whip. Finally, I decided to intervene, grabbing the Cloak's arm before he could lash out again. His head whipped around in a glare – well, I assume it was a glare, since the guy was wearing a mask – and I pointed at the CIA guy before he could say anything.

"How do you plan to get any information if you kill the guy?" I let go of the Cloak's arm and walked over to the prisoner before he could answer.

"So let's start with your name. John, is it?" Said person painfully nodded in response, "Ok, so what did you mean when you said that you knew me?"

John gulped, breathing heavily as he spoke, "A few years ago… I was… a personal… a personal escort… for some big-shot scientist… worked for the government…" He paused, and I waved my hand for him to continue – I was curious, ok? John hesitated, but he continued, "He was working on some kind of top secret project… one day he dropped one of his files… a picture came out… and it was you."

I raised an eyebrow, "What was the project about?"

"I don't know, I was only the bodyguard," he snapped. He was starting to slump in his chair, and his words were slurring. He didn't have long.

"Calm down," I told him, "Where did you escort him to?"

John opened his mouth to speak, but then he started to cough. I gave him his space while he got over his fit; the whip had made some deep gashes in his torso, and one of his lungs may had been pierced.

After a while, his fit subsided, but his breathing was much more labored. I checked his aura; anytime over he would be dead.

"He's going to die soon, might as well just kill him."

I whirled around as I knocked the gun out of the Cloak's hand. "I'm not leaving until he talks!"

I turned back to a dying John, "Where did you take him John!?" He said something in a voice so low, I could barely hear him, so I kneeled next to him, leaning my head so that I could hear his answer. John repeated what he had said, and a few moments later he was dead, a bullet in his head. I got up, wiping my face from John's blood.

"He didn't say squat," I said without emotion. I looked at the Cloak, who was blowing the smoke from his gun.

"Too bad."  
…..

_December 19__th__, 2012, 0817 hours – two days before the winter equinox_

I blinked. All of us were shocked out of our minds, simple as that. Kelly was strong, didn't let herself get pushed around, always spoke her mind… but she always was in control of herself. Never had I heard her shout at me or at anyone. And I most certainly had never heard her use that combination of words from her before; I was the one with the dirty mouth in the relationship.

"This has gone too far, David!" she screamed, "I don't know what point you're trying to prove here, but for once, would you please, _please,_ just put the gun down?"

Her eyes looked into mine, pleading me to do what she asked. Many emotions played in her eyes: fear, sadness, anger…

I ejected the mag from my berretta and un-chambered it, pulling on the barrel to eject the one bullet inside the chamber. Everybody visibly relaxed, though Annabeth kept pointing her gun at me.

I gently pried the gun from her hands, and as soon as it was out of her grip, she slumped to the side; Percy caught her before she hit the ground.

"She's fine," I told him, "she's just in shock. It's perfectly normal, though she'll be like that for about five minutes."

Percy just glared. I looked at everyone else; except for Kelly, they were wearing similar expressions.

"Now, before you all jump to conclusions, I'll explain everything. But first, I need a drink."

"No," said Thalia, "explanations first, drink later."

I shrugged, "Fine by me, but for you to be able to understand my story, I'll have to start from the beginning."

Thalia, Percy, Nico and Annabeth (who was still shaking and leaning on Percy) shared a glance and came to a silent agreement.

"All right," said Nico, "we'll listen."

One hour later, I concluded my story by saying, "… so that's why I threatened you with the gun, Annabeth. I have something that hopefully none of you will ever have in your lives. It's what we call the killer instinct: The ability to kill a person and look in their eyes while life fades away from them; the ability to kill thousands of people in less than an hour, and yet not lose sleep over it. I'm a killer, guys. And thank the gods that it's me, and not you, who has to deal with this."

I got up from the stool, heading to the mini-bar and pouring a much needed drink. In one gulp, it was down my throat, the burn of alcohol lingering and fiving my body a feeling of energy.

"So now you know," I said, breaking the silence, "Any questions?"

Annabeth – now recovered – spoke up, "You never told any of this to anyone?"

I glanced at Kelly, who in response got up from her stool and sat on the counter. I followed her example, sitting next to her and grabbing her hand for reassurance. She gave me a smile and squeezed my hand back.

"I did," I answered Annabeth, "To four people. The first person to ask me about my life was Lady Artemis, the day that the Hunters found me and Kelly in Long Island. You won't remember this, Thalia, but you were there when I told my story to Lady Artemis."

Thalia raised an eyebrow, "You're right, I don't remember, because you never-"

"But I did, Thalia. I observed you for the next few days, and when I woke up after Lady Artemis and I had our fight, I asked her if she could modify your memories of that particular event. The less people that knew who I really was, the safer everyone was, though I imagine that Lady Artemis reported everything to Olympus. Not that I care.

"The third person I told was Chiron. He was the one who accepted me into the camp, and in return, I wanted him to know who, or rather what, he was accepting into the camp. I wanted out, I wanted a new life, and Camp Half-Blood was the only alternative I had. Because of that, I almost didn't tell Chiron, but in the end, I don't regret it. Why do you think he pushed me so hard when I was trying to develop my telekinesis? He knew I could handle the strain; after all, I'd been through much worse."

"And Chiron just accepted you?" asked Nico.

"Obviously," I said, "And he took it better than I thought he would. But hey, that's Chiron for you."

Everybody nodded in agreement, smiling slightly at past memories. Percy frowned.

"Wait, you said you told four people: Artemis, Thalia, Chiron, and who else?" he asked.

I looked at Kelly for permission, and she nodded, turning to Percy, "The last person he told was me, Percy."

His mouth dropped in response, "You knew? And you still dated him?"

Kelly smiled, "Not for a while. Remember that time when the whole Demeter cabin was after David for about a week? That was my fault. We had been dating for about a month when he told me, and I was shocked. My boyfriend was a retired professional assassin, for Hades' sake!" I winced slightly at this, but nobody noticed, "I broke up with him, and my whole cabin took it personal."

I smiled at this, shaking my head in amusement. I was tripped up at least once a day by fast-growing grass, and every night that I went to bed I would find the inside of my cabin overtaken by vines, plants, small trees… poison ivy was the most common though. It wasn't until about a week from the break-up that Kelly stepped in, though the fact that I was being hung from my foot in the middle of the pavilion at dinner might've helped. Thank the gods we made up right then and there.

"Anyone have any other questions?" I asked. Nico looked at me, though his expression told me what he was going to ask before he opened his mouth.

"How many people have you killed?"

Everyone, even Kelly, looked at me in curiosity. I frowned, hesitating before I gave my lie.

"Honestly Nics… I don't know, and I don't think I want to." The truth was that I had an idea, but saying that you lost count after 786 successful assassination missions tended to close one's appetite.

They accepted my answer, thank the gods.

"So what now? What's our next move?" Of course, it had been Annabeth who asked.

I sighed. "I've been thinking about that. The whole reason I got back into the Sixes was to get any information that could help us find a cure for Clarisse. The only thing I found that was mildly close was an old myth that talked about controlling, and I quote, 'That which is the rightful owner of all, and yet is owned by all'."

"Sounds like the gods," said Percy.

"That's what I thought at first, but then I realized that the chances of the gods being 'owned by all' are lower than the chances of scientific evidence showing that Teddy Roosevelt was actually a woman." Tension breaker success, everyone laughed.

"So I looked back at the prophecy. One line in particular caught my eye: _Six shall meet six in the city of sins, with evil source to be obeyed._ It has a double meaning."

Annabeth nodded in agreement, "It makes sense, but who would we be meeting?"

I closed my eyes, "Jean had mentioned something about that. She said that someone had been poking around the Sixes HQ, but the only thing that she specified was that they were teenagers. Other than that, she didn't mention anything important. Also, I had a dream…"

I proceeded to tell them about the dream I had the day we arrived at Vegas, telling them about my encounter with Insidia, the gifts she gave me, and the people I had seen. Thalia got a jealous glint in her eyes when I summoned the crossbow – which by the way, I never put in my iCarry: I simply had to reach over my shoulder and Ambush would magically appear in my hand, along with the bolt-quiver on my waist.

"And you didn't recognize them?" asked Annabeth when I finished. I shook my head no. "Do you remember what they were wearing?" Again, I shook my head, and she sighed, leaning back into her chair.

"So we got nothing," said Kelly.

I didn't get the chance to consider how to refute the statement.

Just then, the door to the suite banged open, and I reacted before anyone else, grabbing a kitchen knife and throwing it in direction of the poor soul that was standing at the open door.

It was a good thing that she had good reflexes.

"Damn it David, didn't you tell me-"

"I taught you to knock before you entered, Jean!"

"No, you taught me that when shit's about to go down, we get out ASAP!"

I paled at her words.

"David, who is this?" asked Percy. I paused.

"Everyone, meat Jean-Dianne Collins, former student and current assassin; Jean, meet everyone." Jean raised an eyebrow, but gave a small "hello" in response.

"How many?" I asked Jean, since I knew what was going on. She shook her head.

"Too many," she said, "They have all the exits blocked, and they're doing it under the pretense of it being a police raid. And I can't stall for you, they found out about _him. _Don't worry," she held a hand up, "he's safe, and I already got him out of the city."

I nodded, and she tossed the knife back at me, followed by a modified SCAR-L assault rifle with a red dot sight, shotgun under barrel attachment and sound suppressor. I immediately chambered the weapon, slightly adjusting the sights to my preference as I kinetically caught the ammo belt Jean tossed me.

"David, what's going on?" asked Kelly as I worked. I turned to my companions, who were either staring at the gun in my hands (the girls) or at Jean (Percy and Nico, open mouthed too). Jean moved outside of the suite, aiming her own SCAR down both sides of the hallway.

"Pack everything up, only essentials: weapons, Nectar, Ambrosia, First-Aid, and one set of clothes! Move it! We're leaving in less than five minutes!" I told them.

"What is going on?" Kelly asked again. This time, I answered her.

"Mob raid," I continued after a slight pause, "and chances are that the Sixes are here for us."  
…..

**I leave you with our dear little writing friend, the cliffhanger. What will happen next? Do the Sixes aim for capture… or for death? Stay tuned to find out!**

**Don't be afraid to review!**

**Signing off,  
The Helios Spirit**


	16. Meeting Friends I didn't know I had

**Well, I think an apology is in order… although I **_**did **_**warn that I was to ****here ****in work. College is not all-party-and-no-study. But still, thanks for staying with me… Even though at this point I only have about 3 to 4 followers… and even less reviews…**

**Screw it; I'm taking the apology back.**

Chapter 15 – Meeting friends I didn't know I had

_December 19__th__, 2012, unknown time – two days before the winter equinox_

"_Clear! Move down now!"_

"_I need a mag!"_

The voices kept sounding in my head, but I couldn't make any sense of them. There was a ringing in my ears, and it kept distorting what I was hearing.

"_Shit, I'm out! There're too many of them!"_

_A scream of pain._

"_Kelly!"_

"_I'm fine, the bullet went through… I can walk."_

"_Percy, help her. Thalia, use my rifle, take out anyone that's below us."_

"_With pleasure."_

Somehow, my consciousness started to reassemble itself, absorbing all the information around me and trying to make sense of it all.

"_David, you alright?"_

"_I'm fine Jean… it'll take more than a shotgun to take me out…"_

"_I know that, it was the fall that had me worried."_

"_I would've saved him if I thought he was in danger. I know him, he's reckless," said Kelly._

"_Tell me about it…"_

_I turned to Percy, "How did this conversation go in that direction again?"_

"_Get used to it, bro. Happens all the time…"_

"_Contact!"_

What was happening to me? Where was I? Why did I feel something on me? Why couldn't I move?

"_We're almost out guys… right through this door, and we're home free. Jean and I will cover you. When I give the signal, you run straight to the cars. Don't stop, don't look, just run."_

_Kelly fired her M60 in an upwards direction, hoping to force the mortal Sixes back. Sure, she was firing celestial bronze rounds, but they didn't need to know that._

Something was near me… I still couldn't see, though I somehow registered that whatever was around wasn't human, yet it was friendly. As if responding to my thoughts, I felt something wet and sticky probe my face, accompanied by a rapid breathing… and a smell of wet dog.

What happened to me? And more importantly… where was everyone else?

Finally, I realized that the reason why I couldn't see was because I couldn't open my eyes. After a few minutes though, I managed to slowly open them, wincing when the light blinded me momentarily.

I blinked. I was looking at a husky, who in response to me opening my eyes yipped in excitement and proceeded to give my face a saliva bath.

"Whoa boy," I said, my voice raspy with dust, "not now…"

The saliva did its job though, and it woke me up enough to realize that there was a big slab of concrete pinning my entire right shoulder, cutting circulation to my arm. There was another piece of concrete on my left leg, but it was smaller, and not as big a priority as the other one. The problem was that I could feel that my right shoulder was dislocated.

What the fuck happened?

_You can do this, David. Just focus._

"_In position! Kelly, Thalia, cover our backs. Jean, you ready?"_

"_Are you?"_

"_You know the answer to that."_

_I looked at Kelly. She had the same idea, and I blew her a kiss as she smiled at me._

"_David, they're getting closer!" said Nico._

"_Hold them off!"_

"_This is a hotel, David, not a cemetery!"_

_I swore, turning back to Jean. "On the count of three?"_

"_Three!" she yelled, and I kicked in the door with my SCAR-L blazing._

So that was what happened… the door had been booby trapped, and as soon as I kicked it open a bomb on the other side went off. I now remember trying to throw up a shield against the blast, and I knew that if I hadn't I would probably be dead. As it was, the shield didn't protect the hotel from the blast, and the rubble that landed on me took me by surprise, knocking me out.

I pushed off the slab of concrete with difficulty, taking my time to do so since I could only use my left arm. When it was off, I flexed and relaxed my shoulder, popping it back into place and letting blood flow through my arm once more. I sat up, looking around as I ignored the feeling of needles in my arm. As far as I could see, I was alone. The Husky had disappeared without me noticing, not even leaving any tracks for me to follow.

_Yippee… My favorite job, looking for survivors to save… Ironic, since I usually look for survivors to finish them off._ I gave a quick sweep of the room, using my aura vision to look for anyone.

I found someone, alright.

I checked my wrist; my phone was still there, but after checking the inventory I realized that my berrettas were gone. Fortunately one of the pistols was under the stone slab I had been pinned under, so I kinetically pulled it out and silenced it, moving towards the unknown soul that was under the rubble. It was hard, since the entire section of the parking lot had collapsed, which made me wonder: why weren't the mortals here, searching for survivors?

I paused. If there were no policemen or firemen, it certainly meant that either they had a) already come and gone, b) the entire building was compromised, c) I was in an inaccessible area due to the collapse, or d) all of the above.

It was probably the last one, so I shrugged and kept walking towards the man. As it turned out, it was an unconscious security guard, so I merely pulled him out of the rubble and kept walking, looking for a way out and keeping an eye out for Kelly and the others. Unfortunately, the only way out happened to be an empty elevator shaft. The elevator itself was one story below me, and it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be used again. Sparks flitted down the pitch-black shaft, but it still looked like the cable and the service ladders were in good condition. Deciding to make a thorough search before attempting the climb, I turned around.

Five minutes later, I was rewarded with signs of a small struggle not far from where I had woken up. Bullet casings littered the floor, and there was some blood too, though not enough to assume that it was a life-threatening wound. There was a body too, but the head was smashed in so that it looked like a bowling ball had decided to replace the woman's brain and front part of her face. Thank the gods, though, it wasn't anyone I knew.

Searching the body, I found a radio, though the batteries and inner circuitries were toast – Thalia's handiwork probably. I slipped it into my phone, along with two ambrosia cubes that were near the body. Standing, I noticed some footprints in the dust, so holding my berretta ready, I started to follow them.

A few minutes later, I was rewarded with a door. Again, there were signs of a struggle, and a few bloodstains. I was about to head to the door, when something on the floor caught my eye.

A seed.

I levitated it into my palm, my throat choking up as I did. Kelly and I had been thinking about what-if's, and that included contingency plans in case we got separated. We never hammered out the details, but there was no doubt that the seed came from her. After all, they were her own special breed… a gift from her mother.

It told me everything I needed to know. I checked the door for auras, when I was satisfied that there was no ambush waiting for me on the other side, I pulled it open, revealing a service tunnel; it was probably for the Luxor employees. I ran through the tunnel, keeping an eye out for any trip wires or booby traps.

After a while, I reached a closed door marked 'lobby'. I readied my pistol since there was somebody on the other side, but I wasn't sure if they were friendlies. I opened the door slowly, keeping an eye out as I emerged behind the check-in-check-out counter.

"All clear, sir."

"No survivors?"

I listened to the two men that were in the lobby. Peeking over the counter, I realized that they were SWAT, but the chances of them being undercover Sixes were pretty high, and I wasn't taking any chances.

"None that we could find. Everyone else has been evacuated, although there are a few areas that we haven't been able to search due to cave-ins."

"Goddamn terrorists. Why here?"

"I may have an idea, sir. HQ ran a background check on everyone in the hotel, and they found something interesting."

"Define interesting."

_I'm not going to like this…_

"Three days ago there was a check-in of six teenagers. They paid in cash."

_Crap… Three days? That means today's the twentieth! The equinox is tomorrow!_

"So?"

"Well sir, according to the records, they stayed in a suite, and the payment that they gave was for an entire week."

"Do you know who they are?"

"Three of them have some history, and one of them is wanted by the FBI. Perseus Jackson, age 18, Annabeth Chase, age 18, and David Johnson, age 16."

Silence. And that was never good, IMHO. I decided to move; I had heard what I needed to hear.

"What did you say…? _David Johnson?_"

"Yes sir."

There was some debris in the lobby, and the counter curled around it, providing me the perfect cover for my next objective: the security office. Thank the gods for American laziness and sympathetic architects.

"Oh shit… "

"Sir?"

"What did the files say?"

"Perseus Jackson, at age 12 was related to the disappearance of his mother, Sally Jackson…" I tuned out the rest, since I knew what they were talking about.

Ok, I confess, I heard the story from them, but since I was a bit paranoid, I might've made a small background check on everyone at CHB… Nothing showed up for Chiron, though – photo ID, people, the technology's there.

"A warrant was issued for Jackson and his companions to bring them in for questioning…" The officers' voice was lost as I reached the security office and quietly closed the door behind me. There were a couple of SWAT officers inside; rookies, by the looks of it.

10 seconds later they were unconscious. They were cops, and while I wouldn't have hesitated to kill them if they were Sixes, I felt that cops didn't really know what they were getting themselves into, especially if they went head-to-head with me. Hell, even if they were Sixes they wouldn't know what they would be getting themselves into.

_Let's see what the security tapes can tell me… _I thought as I approached the computers.

An unknown amount of time later, I was out of the office, slipping a CD with the – original – copies of the tapes into my iCarry. I turned to the emergency stairs, crouching as I avoided detection from the two officers in the lobby.

"…needs to be caught, do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

The man turned around and started to exit the hotel, when the commanding officer called him back.

"Shoot on sight and aim to kill, do you understand?"

"Sir? He's only a-"

"Am I clear?"

Silence as I reached the door next to the elevators.

"Yes sir."

The rest was lost to me as I entered the staircase.  
…..

_December 20__th__, 2012, 0730 hours – one day before the Winter Equinox – Camp Half-Blood_

Chiron was tired.

The past few days were beginning to show in Chiron's expression, and many of the older campers were starting to take notice. With the stress of Clarisse's condition, the lack of reports from Las Vegas quest, and the blackout from Camp Jupiter, everyone in the Camp was antsy, and it was all Chiron could do to maintain the calm. Even so, fights were now common, especially from the cabins whose members went on the quest.

He sighed. The least Chiron could do was pretend to be calm for the sake of the Camp, and that included continuing to do daily activities without giving anything away.

This included breakfast with Mr. D.

Thirty minutes later, Chiron was about standing in front of the assembled cabins in the breakfast pavilion. He waited until all the campers were settled into their respective tables to give the morning announcements.

"Are there any questions?" he asked after he finished.

"When is the quest coming back?" asked Evadne Collins, a camper that had arrived shortly after the quest members had left. She was fourteen, so as soon as she had crossed the border, she had been claimed by Poseidon no less, much to Mr. D's displeasure. Naturally, she wanted to meet the half-brother everyone was telling her about so much.

"I'm afraid I don't know, my dear. We can't send them any messages, and until they report in, we won't have an idea of when they shall return. However, we can expect them to return within the next two weeks."

Evadne nodded in understanding, frowning as she sat down.

"Now then, to the gods!" said Chiron raising his goblet, and the campers did the same.

"Now I would say thank you, but I'm obviously not a god, so I'll just say hi instead."

Chiron quickly turned around to address the Iris-Message, ignoring the campers' cries of alarm as they saw his face.

"David! What is wrong my boy? You look as if you've seen better days…"

And indeed he did. There were numerous scratches on his face, there was a huge bruise on the right side of his face, and he seemed to slightly favor his left leg. All-in-all, he was almost unrecognizable. He was holding his pistol in his right hand, but even as they spoke he holstered it. David grimaced, "We both know the answer to that. As to what's wrong, well… to put it simple, everyone except me just got kidnapped."

Chiron paled at his words, "Please elaborate on this David."

He shook his head, "I don't have time, and I'm using the Luxor's sky-beam to send this message. SWAT's on my ass, and this is worse than using a cellphone. I'll give you the major details only."

After he gave a thirty second summary of the quest, he said, "…so I was hoping if you could send in the cavalry. Are they still there… yes, yes they are. Also, you might want to hurry, because I may or may not have blown the Luxor to the point of demolition…" He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression.

Chiron sighed, "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, try to lay low as much as you can."

"No can do, Chiron. The more time that they spend in hands of the Sixes…" David shuddered, "I would be lying if I said I didn't know what they're doing to them."

Chiron frowned, "How long do they have?"

"Oh they won't kill them if that's what you're asking."

Chiron visibly relaxed at this. "That's a relief."

David gave Chiron a sad smile, but it soon slipped from his face, "How's Clarisse doing?"

Chiron sighed, "She's… uncontrollable. We're keeping her sedated most of the time, but every now and then she wakes up… and it isn't pretty."

Suddenly loud voices philtered through the message, and David tensed, "Chiron, there's one last thing I need to tell you… I've been reading some recent reports stolen by the Sixes dating back to at least five years ago. All of them are related to the state of Nevada, and they talk about a mine where they get a special type of metal. They even have a sample of the stuff, and it's nothing like I've ever seen before." He tapped at his phone, which was strapped on his wrist, and after a flash of light, there was a blood-red metal ore hovering in David's palm.

Chiron frowned, "In my years, I've never seen anything like that." David nodded, and with another small flash of light, the ore disappeared, probably back into his phone.

David continued, "The thing about this mine… they've had strange encounters with unknown creatures. They give some descriptions, and they sound shockingly similar to different types of mythological monsters. Add the fact that all of Las Vegas is overloaded with magical interference… Chiron, I think that there may be an actual entrance to-"

David broke off as a bang sounded through the message. His hand quickly moved to his hip, but suddenly he fell to the ground with a cry of pain, blood pouring out of his right shoulder.

"Stay on the ground! Put your hands on your head!"

Chiron and the campers held their breaths as David complied. A SWAT officer came into their view, half-crouching and with his machine gun ready to fire. Suddenly and without warning, David leapt up in a spin, flipping onto the man's back while his hands effortlessly snapped the man's neck. The resulting _crack _made everyone, even Mr. D, flinch.

If David was affected he didn't show it, but quickly used the man's body as a shield when the rest of the unseen officers opened fire. The poor man's body convulsed as multiple rounds pierced it, but David took no notice as he moved into cover, cradling his right arm as he did. Iris-message forgotten, he ran towards the glass wall directly across from Chiron's view, firing his gun at the glass as he did so.

Suddenly, two more SWAT officers came into the message's view, semi-blocking David from Chiron's view. The officers raised their weapons, but before they could fire David jumped through the half-broken window, throwing a small round object towards the officers as he disappeared.

Chiron swiped his hand through the message before the grenade exploded. The resulting silence in pavilion could've been cut with a spoon.  
…

_December 20__th__, 2012, 0800 hours – one day before the Winter Equinox_

The thing about jumping out of a window that's about thirty stories above ground level? If you suddenly decide it's a bad idea, it's _way_ too late to change your mind. The good thing was that since the Luxor was a pyramid, the entire ride down the side would be, duh, on a slant, and the glass-and-metal surface of the hotel had minimal friction.

Yippee for me, my back, and most especially, my ass.

_30 stories worth of pyramid, 3.3 meters per story… _I didn't even try to do the math. I had less than a minute before I went splat against the pavement, that is, if the friction left anything for the ground. Suddenly I thought of the story of the day Percy found Camp Jupiter for the first time. He had jumped down a hill riding a snack-platter, but in the end he said that it didn't matter anyways: half-way through Hill-Airlines, the platter went one way and he the other.

Yeah, it was not encouraging at all.

Already the friction had caused massive burns on my back and legs, so I hand to end this quick. I did the most logical thing I could've done at the moment: I tucked my legs and arms in and rolled, and I quickly picked up speed as I ignored my stomach and my screaming shoulder. Then, the essential part of the stunt: I slightly pushed off the surface of the pyramid with both my left elbow and leg, propelling me off the Luxor surface about ten feet in the air. Opening my legs to slow down my spin, I pulled out my knuckle-knives from my cell phone. As I fell to the Luxor once more, I stabbed both knives into the metal as I landed on my feet.

I stayed in the position for a few seconds to get my bearings. I was halfway down the Luxor's side, though the spot was not exactly advantageous for the newlywed couple in the room. I guess not everybody was evacuated from the Hotel. They were staring at me wide-eyed through the window, but I ignored them as I pulled one of my knives out of the steel beam and slowly let go of the other one. Sure, the angle was pretty uncomfortable, but I could manage. Rubber against glass was more than effective, but in the desert winds, the glass would be worn smooth in some parts and my boots would find no purchase. With that happy thought, I kinetically pulled my other knife from the beam – my arm was seriously starting to hurt – and started to slowly walk down the Luxor's side and out of the Newlyweds' sight.

The wind blew at my back, carrying with its subtle and gentle breath a cacophony of voices that spoke of memories… and danger. I kept making my way down the pyramid, completely relaxed… That is, to others I would appear relaxed, but there was no mistaking the way I was planting my feet against the glass. Even now I was grabbing my remaining berretta with my left hand while I cradled my right arm close to my torso.

Another breath of wind, unfamiliar voices carried with it. I stopped, taking note of my surroundings. There were auras below me, both inside and at the bottom of the pyramid, and none of them seemed worthy of a third glance. So where was the person watching me?

_Look up, _said a whispered voice in my head. That surprised me; _I guess Insidia's keeping an eye on me. _

"Need a lift?"

I calmly looked at the blond kid floating in the air a few feet away from me with his arms crossed. I smiled at him, as if the sight of a kid hovering ten stories in the air was an everyday thing for me.

"Jason Grace, Roman Son of Jupiter and Hero of Olympus… I'm honored."

He raised an eyebrow, "And you are?"

I laughed, "If you came up here to offering to give me a lift down without knowing who I am, you got some serious problems bro."

He grinned in response, "Yeah, you got the attitude, it's definitely you." He looked up, waving a hand, and seconds later a huge eagle soared down and hovered next to me.

I mimicked Jason's raised eyebrow, "Frank Zhang?" The eagle nodded, "How did you… never mind." I climbed onto his back, taking care not to move my right shoulder.

Yeah, not much luck there. Of course, I didn't give any indication that I was in pain, but instead simply kept my arm close to me and looped the other around eagle-Frank's neck, berretta still in hand. If he was uncomfortable with a pistol that close to his head, he didn't let on. As soon as I was ready, Frank took off, gliding down the Luxor's side without a sound, Jason taking the lead as we flew over Vegas and away from the Luxor.

_I _will _find you, Kelly. I _will_ be back, and this time, not even Lucifer himself will stop me.  
_…

_December 20__th__, 2012, 0830 hours – one day before the Winter Equinox_

I must've dozed off, because the next thing I knew was that we were descending in a suburban area of Vegas, far from the Strip and with Jason still in the lead. After a few more minutes of flying, we landed on the roof of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. An aura check gave off what it really was: a safe-house for demigods, smack in the outskirts of Vegas. I had seen similar ones in New York when the gang and I had visited Percy for his birthday. Annabeth had pointed them out for me when I asked on the way back from Percy's party, and they were pretty similar all around.

I got off of Frank's back, but unfortunately I collapsed as soon as I put my feet on the roof; the blood loss from my bullet wound was killing me. The good thing was that Jason landed next to me and tried to help me up. The bad part was that he grabbed me by my right arm.

"Ouch!" I yelled as he pulled me up. He simply ignored me as Frank, now human, slung my other arm over his shoulders. When he was satisfied that Frank wasn't going to drop me, Jason moved toward a door close by that led to the inside of the warehouse. He opened the door for Frank and me, following and closing the door after we had stepped through. Down two flights of metal stairs we went, emerging inside of a huge and not-so-abandoned warehouse. Four people looked up as we walked down the stairs. And by walk, I mean 'Jason walks ahead of us while Frank half-drags me down'.

"Jason!"

A very pretty girl ran up to an open-armed Jason, kissing him. I prayed that the same wouldn't to Frank.

No one was listening since he let go of me as another pretty girl rushed to him, kissing him fiercely as well. _Stupid Romani…_

I kept my mouth shut as I fell to the ground, my arm throbbing in pain. I tried to pick myself up, but I barely had the energy to breath. Fortunately two pairs of hands appeared in my line of vision, picking me up and taking care not to jostle my wounded arm. When they set up on a table, the guy got to work, even though I knew as soon as I saw his face that machines where more of his line of work. At least the girl helped him.

"Leo, Reyna, the bullet's out, don't worry about it," I told them as Leo cut my shirt open after taking of my bullet-proof vest – which, by the way, did nothing to stop the bullet from going in.

"Damn it, David," said Reyna, daughter of the Roman war goddess Bellona, "Why is it that you're always the one getting shot?"

I shrugged one shoulder because of obvious reasons, "Maybe because I give demigods guns? I don't know, I'm pretty used to it, actually."

"The getting shot part or being an idiot part?" asked Leo.

"Well, when you're me, you don't really have a choice."

Leo chuckled while Reyna gave me a small smile. "I must say, it must suck to be you," she said.

I grew serious, "You have no idea how true that is…"

I must've let out something I wasn't supposed to, since they didn't answer that. I didn't show it, but inside I was sick with worry. I knew the Sixes wouldn't do anything yet, but knowing certain people, there was bound to be a few broken fingers. And if they figured out what there was between me and Kelly…

I focused back on Reyna and Leo, "They still sucking face over there?"

The both of them scowled. I frowned, "The hell is wrong with them? We're in the middle of a crisis here!" I paused, "And Leo, what the fuck are you doing with my arm?"

"They've been like that the whole mission," said Reyna, "It's nauseating. And as for what Leo's doing, he's cleaning your wound. How'd you get this?" I proceeded to tell her, and she nodded when I finished, "Makes sense. Your rib is cracked, and it looks like the bullet went in through your chest and came out through your arm. It probably hit your rib and bounced off, shattering your arm. You're lucky you had the vest on, or you would be dead right now. This'll take a while to heal."

I shook my head, "No it won't. Just get the bone shards out, put…" I paused, thinking, "one teaspoon of nectar in the wound, and my body will do the rest. I'll be fine by midday." They shared a glance, but said nothing. I ignored the pain in my shoulder the best as I could, opening my senses as much as I could and examining my surroundings without opening my eyes. _Four walls, two of them thirty feet long, the others ten feet, door to the north, stairs to the roof on the right… Basement? Maybe… Sleeping bags near the stairs, imperial gold weapons everywhere… And no guns, judging from the lack of gunpowder smell._

I opened my eyes as I heard the others stop sucking face, only to realize that it was because they decided to get a two-second breather _at the same time_. _That _pissed me off.

Just then, Leo said, "All done," and moved away. I got up, sitting on the edge of the table and examined my shoulder. It wasn't hurting as much, though it did twinge a little when I jostled it. My shoulder and arm were completely covered in bandages, but I knew they wouldn't last in that position much longer.

I thanked Leo, and he nodded, moving away from the table as he pulled out some mechanical parts from the pockets of the army jacket he was wearing. Flashing me a grin, he walked towards the stairs and sat there, fiddling with whatever he was building.

Just then, I caught sight of the two couples again. I held up my hand, "Rey, could you pass me my gun please?" She complied, and I kinetically removed the suppressor from the berretta. I pulled the trigger, and was rewarded with the sound of six people jumping in surprise, four of whom pulled out their weapons. I set the gun on the table, purposely avoiding everyone's gaze.

I calmly pulled one of my double-barrel shotguns from my iCarry and started polishing it with one of the rags that used to be my shirt, "You done? Because while you four are _sucking face," _I looked at them, giving them the full force of my death-glare, "there is a _camp, _a _city _in ruins, overrun by monsters. There is a _girl, _a child of Ares, who at this moment is probably better off dead. There are five people captured and most probably being _tortured _because of our actions in this city. And while all this _bullshit _is going on, you four are fucking _making out!? Have you lost your gods dammed fucking minds!?"_

I held up a hand before they could answer, "I don't want to hear any excuses. I swear on the river Styx that if you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't tell anyone, not including the gods." Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I ignored their surprised expressions, "But let me get this straight: I will not trust you with things of importance, simple as that. You do not get to make decisions, you do not question orders, and you do not step out of line, not even once. From this moment on, as long as we are on this mission, if I tell you to quack like a duck, you quack, eat and _shit _like a duck, no questions asked, do you understand?"

No answer. "I said, _do you fucking understand?" _They looked like bobble-heads, they were nodding so fast – and the best part was that I didn't even feel slightly guilty; rather, I was feeling satisfaction and contempt. Reyna and Leo were looking at me with respect, and with a bit of fear, but I ignored them as I returned my gaze to the half-polished shotgun in my lap.

"Good. Now that we've sorted that out, it's time to move out. I have an idea of where the others might be, but we need to move fast, so listen up. Leo, how fast can you build a berretta 92FS exactly like this one?" I kinetically held my pistol up so that he could examine it.

Leo frowned, "About ten, fifteen minutes tops?"

"Make it five." I kinetically tossed the pistol to Leo while still looking at my shotgun, opening it and inspecting the inside of the barrels, "Jason, Frank, go outside and start scouting. Don't let yourselves get seen, and anything unusual gets reported immediately. Piper, start packing things up, we leave in ten. Hazel, I need you to find the closest underground tunnel that can get us to this address." I proceeded to give her said address, ignoring the cries of alarm and surprise from the rest, "I don't care if it's a sewer, if it gets us there, it gets us there. Reyna, you and I need to talk. Tell me everything that you've done, everything that's happened… and that includes how many times _they _started making out without giving a fuck."

Satisfied with my inspection, I flicked my wrist upward and the shotgun barrel closed with a _snap _that made everyone flinch.

I looked at everyone in the room, my gaze heavy. "You've survived so far. Congratulations. But by the time we're done, the same won't be said for the Sixes.

"Things are going to change around here."

**Read and Review!**


	17. The evil source to be obeyed Part I

**Warning: Spoilers for the Mark of Athena in this chapter! Also, prepare yourselves for some serious psychological traumatic events, such as blood, torture, death, and all of the above. I mean, seriously, I wrote the chapter, and **_**I'm**_** traumatized.**

**And BTW, I'm starting to write a Halloween Fanfic two- or three-shot. It happens before TCC: Awakening, so it's an indirect prequel. I'm not too sure when I'll upload/finish it, though.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

Chapter 16 – The Evil source to be obeyed - Part I

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 0830 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox – Unknown Location_

"So… do you have any ideas, Wise Girl?"

"I'm thinking… Does anyone have their powers back?"

Everyone shook their heads no. Annabeth sighed, "Then no. They took everything… even my hair pins."

Thalia scoffed, "What were you planning to do, pick the locks? I mean, look at these things!" She held up her handcuffed wrists for emphasis. She's right, Percy reflected, staring at his own wrists. The cuffs had no visible key hole; they were completely smooth on the outside, and they were already in place before any of them had woken up together in this… cell. If you could call a two-room suite, complete with working kitchen, a cell.

Silence enveloped the suite. Just then, Nico asked the question that everyone had on their minds: "What do you think they want with us?" Of course, nobody had the answer to that.

"Nothing," Ok, thought Percy, I'll take it back, I guess somebody does know, "It's enough that they have us. We're just bargaining chips. Maybe they do want information, but on what?" Kelly turned to the rest of them, "Our heritage? They obviously know something because if they didn't, they wouldn't have been able to shut down our powers. Camp? They've checked our stuff, they've seen our shirts. All they have to do is start asking around. Heck, they probably even have this room bugged, so no, they don't want information. We're hostages is what we are."

"And who are they going to hold us ransom to?" said Annabeth, "All they have to do is do what cops do: Look up our names. They wouldn't get much money from any of our parents, that's for sure."

Kelly shook her head while the rest of us stayed silent, "Think of it as chess, Annabeth. Who's the only other person playing on the board?"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, "So in a way, this is all David's fault?"

"Indirectly, yes. That raid on the Luxor was for David and the other girl, Jean." Percy noted how Kelly said Jean's name with an emotion he couldn't place… jealousy, perhaps?

"Speaking of which, what happened to her?" asked Thalia.

"I don't know," said Percy, "I was the first to wake up, and she wasn't here when I did."

Kelly frowned, "She's probably being tortured. After all, she's like David, an exile… a loose end of the Sixes." She winced as she said that, and fell quiet, sitting down on a chair and hugging her knees as best as she could with the handcuffs on.

Percy, Annabeth and Nico shared a glance. They had a pretty good idea of torture, since their time in Tartarus was just that; although in that place it was more of a mental torture than physical. Plus, there was one more option that defined Jean's situation, but of course no one would suggest it out loud, even though everyone was thinking it.

"Do you think he'll come?" Annabeth asked. Everybody knew who she was talking about.

Kelly's head snapped up in a glare, "Oh, he'll come. He better come."

Just then, the door to the "suite" opened without warning, and a man walked in. Everybody stood up, facing him with their arms raised defensively. Although, Percy reflected, you can't be too sure if it's a guy or a girl the one walking in; that mask is creepy.

The person was dressed in a black cloak that swirled around him as he walked. The front of the cloak was buttoned up, so Percy wasn't able to distinguish any… female related organs to confirm the person's gender. As for the face, he/she was wearing a completely smooth white mask. And by completely smooth, he meant no nose, no mouth… and no slits for the eyes. It was like he/she was wearing a curved whiteboard on his/her face.

Percy idly wondered if he could write on the mask with a whiteboard marker as well.

"Hello," he/she said with an Anonymous voice modulator, "I am the Cloak, and we shall start with the interrogations now. Please, I ask you to spare us from lies and false truths. It would be quite painful for you lads if you do so. If you do not believe me, ask her."

From behind him, four men in ski-masks walked into the suite, two of them dragging an unconscious and battered Jean in between them. They walked to the nearest sofa and practically dumped her there. Nobody dared move from their spots to check if she was alright, afraid of being shot by the other two men holding guns.

"Now then," said the Cloak, "Shall we begin?"  
…

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 0900 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox_

When you see a bullet travel through the air in slow motion, it's not like it's seen in the movies. Hollywood shows us the bullet spinning clock- or counter-clockwise speeding through the air with some badass rock music and/or dramatic speech playing in the background; sometimes, if they really want to exaggerate things, the show the air around the bullet making circular patterns, like smoke rings or some shit.

The truth? When a bullet travels through the air, it does spin, but there's no dramatic music and no smoke rings. All there is is a metal cone-shaped casing flying through the air faster than the eye can see. Sure, the whole thing has its moments, like the adrenaline rush when you pull the trigger. Or the beauty of the bullet's flight path as it cuts through the air.

But in my opinion, nothing beats the moment when the bullet enters and exits its flesh-and-bone target.

The bullet cannot be stopped one it is on its path of destruction, and when the distance between the gun and the target is a short one, then there even les chances of the bullet being stopped by a skull. And like I said before, it is art. Ah, the tiny amount of shock in the victim's eyes when the bullet starts to enter. The exhilarating process of the bullet entering and travelling through the head isn't as exciting; by then, either the person's already dead, or they've just barely registered the fact that they're dead. Plus, the only impressive thing is the small round hole left behind when the bullet entered.

No, it's the bullet's exit that I enjoy the most… the moment when suddenly the head snaps back as the bullet makes its grand exit… And it's especially enjoyable if there's a wall behind the victim, since… well, let's just say _blood_ is the new _paint_ in my book.

**(A/N: Sorry if I freaked you out here, but David's transformation into… let's just leave it at the fact that it required the whole dissertation. And believe me; it's going to get worse. Yes, sometimes I do ask myself if I was a killer in a past life.)**

I looked away from the (now) dead man. "So, do I have to kill another one for you to give me the answer I want?"

The Contractor – the man who usually gives out assignments to killers – smiled, "You're still just a boy with a gun in my book. Nothing you say or do will change that."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you deaf?" I raised my berretta, holding back a wince as I did so (my shoulder was killing me) and shot another bodyguard in between the nose and the upper lip: a clean kill. _Jeez, this guy has waaaaaaaay to many guards… although in his defense, most of them are women._

This, by the way, was not helping Jason et al.'s stomachs. Sure, they've killed monsters, but it's one thing to kill a monster, and another to see a mysterious kid they (now) know nothing about, since everything he told them when they met at Percy Jackson's birthday party was actually lies… well, most of it was anyways. Although in the end I'm sure that none of that prepares you for a sixteen-year-old top-notch assassin. But, I digress; I'm sure they'll get over it someday.

The Contractor smirked as he saw another one of his guards die by my hand, although this time something changed in his eyes. "Kill all of them if you want, but you're not going to get the locations of your friends from me."

_Gotcha, _"Oh? And what makes you say that?"

"Well, one phone call-"

"Would you like a get-away-with-you-life-for-free card as well? If you want, I'll personally escort your ass pass Go and collect your corpse. Dick, what makes you think that you're in the position to make a phone call?"

A pause. "Would that be all? Because I would like to keep talking now, _without_ being interrupted." I rolled my eyes, but he kept talking, "One phone call, and I'll have your friends and your _girlfriend _brought here._" _I froze at this, "Oh, yes, we know all about the little relationship between you and, what was the name of that slut… Kelly?" I bristled, lowering my gun, and he plowed on, "We'll even spare that trainee of yours you like so much. In fact, as an added bonus, we'll take them to your precious camp."

I paused, "And in return?" Even as I said the words, inside I was reeling. _They know about Camp Half-Blood… they know about the gods._

The Contractor smiled, "Your head on a platter."

Silence in the room. I heard footsteps behind me, and Jason's voice registered in my head, "David, you're not thinking-"

"Shut up!" I snapped at him, "This isn't your-"

"It IS my business; we're also talking about my sister here!"

My head whipped around to glare at him, "Jason, just-" I broke off as I whirled around, pulling the trigger on my berretta as I took quick aim. The second-to-last remaining bodyguard fell to the ground, dead, revolver unfired. Now, it was just me, Jason, Piper, Reyna, Frank, Hazel, Leo, the Contractor, and his last bodyguard.

I smiled, pointing the gun at the Contractor once more, "Nice try, riling _them_ up," I could hearthe shocked breaths from my companions, "but you forget who _I _am. And as a free lesson, let me remind you."

I took a step closer, "My name is David Achilles Johnson. I am a hired killer. I took a shot against George W. Bush, who was the President of the United States at the time, in his Oval Office. Of course, I missed, and the whole thing was hushed up. I was there when Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Commandos. After all, it was me the CIA paid to bring down the long-range radar that would've detected U.S. forces the moment they took off from Afghanistan. And it was me they paid to infiltrate the Al-Qaeda compound by impersonating one of Bin Laden's personal bodyguards."

By now, the barrel of my gun was pressed against the Contractor's chest, just below his sternum. I was kinetically pinning his arms to the wall, even if he didn't realize it.

"I've killed more CIA, Interpol, MI6, ASIS, and FBI high-ranked officials that there are stars in the sky. I've killed men, women, children, and elderly without mercy. A year and a half ago, I retired, hoping to settle down. Unfortunately, circumstances forced me out of retirement. I was given a job, and nobody, especially not a horse-assed organization like yours has become, will stop me from finishing it."

I guess the Contractor must've realized his arms were pinned, because his eyes widened comically with each word. _Good, _I thought, _let his last emotion be fear._

I pulled the trigger.  
….

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 0930 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox_

Nico Di Angelo had an idea of what torture could be. When he was looking for the Doors of Death in the War against Gaia, he had been captured when wandering to close to the entrance to Tartarus. Just being inside the pit was torture enough, he had decided later on, but hearing the sounds coming from Percy, he was starting to rethink that opinion.

The Cloak had selected the Big Three as his first "volunteers"; whether this was coincidence or intentional, Nico didn't know. Annabeth had started screaming when the masked men had grabbed Percy, and had launched herself at the nearest man in fury. The man in return had quickly retaliated with a roundhouse kick to her chest, and everybody winced at the blow as she fell to the ground, gasping for breath and hugging her chest. Percy immediately had started resisting, but one well-placed right hook and he was out. At Nico's look of fear and panic, Kelly had given him a look that said, _everything will be alright._

Nico hated her because she actually believed it.

The thing that sickened Nico the most was that while one of them was being tortured, they would force the other two to watch. Already he had been forced to watch as Thalia had been broken: somehow they had known about her fear of heights (Nico was surprised when he heard), and had pushed her off again and again from the edge of a building, said building being over a thousand feet high. Of course, they had tied a harness on her, but even with the harness Thalia had screamed in sheer terror the first time they had pushed her off. After pulling her back up, they asked her question. Nico heard neither the question nor the answer, but whatever they had been, the Cloak had not been satisfied, pushing her off the edge once more.

Thalia lasted 19 minutes before she was broken.

By broken he meant completely unresponsive. Thalia was reduced to a Catatonic-like state. Her eyes were open without seeing, and no matter what they did, their captors couldn't revive her. Not even an electric shock woke her from her catatonic state. In the end, they had taken her back to the suite, and even from here Nico heard the angry shouts Annabeth, Kelly and Jean had given.

Next they started on Percy. He had been water-boarded for twenty minutes straight already, with a few thirty-second intervals in between so that he could choke and breathe. Apparently, whatever the Sixes had used to take away their powers had also taken away Percy's ability to breathe underwater as well, and they were gleefully exploiting that. Again, Nico couldn't hear the questions or the answers, but then he figured that Kelly had been right, that the Sixes weren't looking for information. They were simply proving to them that they knew their deepest fears and that they could exploit them however they wanted, whenever they wanted.

After a while, though, the expected result from water-boarding a person occurred: Percy had fainted from lack of oxygen, and after having him revived, the Cloak had given the order for him to be taken away.

Nico heard and felt Annabeth's cry of pain and sorrow as if it was his own.

Fear had already seeped into his bones, and was starting to take a toll on his mind and heart. As a Son of Hades, he was accustomed to seeing souls being tortured in the Fields of Punishment, but nothing could've prepared him for seeing his friends, his cousins being tortured with their worst fears in front of his eyes.

And the worst part was the feeling of helplessness that assaulted Nico. He was the Son of Hades! He had great power at his disposal, and with a flick of his fingers, he would've killed, yes, _killed _every single one of the Sixes in the _godsdammed building. _But no, he and his companions had been stripped of their power, stripped of their dignity, and were being toyed with as if they were dolls, as if they were toys, cheap, disposable sources of entertainment, as if they were dirty rags to be thrown away, as if, as if…

As if they were mortals.

And it was in the exact moment that Nico realized that, that he prayed to his Father and to every god he could think off for help… and for David to hurry up and find them.

"It's your turn now."

The words didn't register in Nico's mind, not when they had taken off his handcuffs, not when they moved him from the chair he had been tied to, not even when they placed him on an operating table in the next room. No, the words only registered the Cloak's faceless mask appeared in Nico's field of vision. His heart was working overtime, adrenaline pumping through his veins until they felt like they were on fire.

"So, Nico – may I call you Nico? – I hope that you won't be as uncooperative as your cousins." Nico didn't react to his words, even if he had wanted to; fear had paralyzed his systems. "As you can see, we are very efficient in achieving what we want; what I want. As you most probably know, Son of Hades, we do not want information. No, what we want is more than that: fear."

Somewhere in Nico's mind he registered a slight itch in the inside of his left elbow, but again, fear twisted everything in his mind. Even now, the Cloak's words were heard as if he had been speaking from underwater. Even worse, the fire in his veins had multiplied to the point that it felt as if they had pulled his blood out and replaced it with molten lead, and his left shoulder and arm were starting to feel uncomfortable. _Oh gods, have they poisoned me? _thought Nico.

"We have injected you with the Digitalis made from the extract of Foxglove flowers. It is commonly used as a drug for cardiac illnesses, but when consumers have an overdose of digitalis… well, as the saying goes, 'Everything in excess, kills'," said the Cloak, confirming Nico's worst fears. Even now, the pain in his shoulder was starting to escalate. Desperately, Nico started to think back to the (few) lessons he had received at Camp regarding to poisons. Unfortunately, he never paid much attention to any kind of lesson that involved books and reading; he was an ADHD dyslexic demigod, after all.

Suddenly, the pain in Nico's shoulder escalated to the point that he nearly blacked out. He registered that the Cloak kept speaking in the background, but the pain was too much for him to be able to concentrate. And it only got worse; after what seemed like years for Nico, he realized that he couldn't move, couldn't breathe… he couldn't even open his mouth to scream, even as the pain kept escalating. His head felt like it was being split open with a rusty spoon, and his lungs were starting to burn from lack of oxygen, though it was nothing compared to the agony from his shoulder and head. Nico couldn't think, couldn't move; the only thing he could do was endure, dying with his eyes open. There was no darkening in his eyes, tunnel of light, no feeling of falling, no appearance of Thanatos, no DOA recording studios, Bianca, no river Styx, no boatman, Hazel, no ferry, no judges, Percy, no judging, Thalia, no afterlife, Father, no-

And then, everything stopped. Nico's body, not his mind, wasted no time in greedily drawing air into his fiery lungs, even though his mind was reeling, but not recovering from the sudden change of circumstances he had just experienced.

After a few minutes had passed, Nico had mostly recovered from whatever they had done to him to realize that he was now alone, but he was still tied down to the table. Most people would take comfort in the fact, but not Nico. He was no stranger to torture, and he had no doubt that it was simply the calm before the storm.

"What you have just experienced," Nico jumped at the sudden voice, looking around to find its unknown source, "was a Cardiac Arrest, Nico di Angelo. If you do not understand the meaning behind those words, let me explain: you just died, and as you may well have noticed, we brought you back at my command. Do not pretend to assume that we won't do it again, however. This, young Mr. di Angelo, is just the beginning.

"And by the time we're done, you and your friends will be dust in the wind."

And the pain started once more.  
…

_December 20__th__, 2012 –0930 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox_

"Leo, did you check the cars?"

"Yeah!"

"And?"

"Dude, let me finish!"

"Leo!" I yelled, exasperated, "This is not the time! Are they or are they not clean?"

"If they have booby traps, then they're well hidden," he assured me.

I nodded while keeping a good grip on my hostage. She was the "Contractor's" remaining 'bodyguard', and initially she had been kicking and screaming after I had shot the man. That had been solved when I simply knocked her out to the surprise of the others.

"Why didn't you kill her?" had been Reyna's question.

I pointed at the dead man, "Contractor my ass. He was just a decoy, a red herring. _She,"_ I pointed at the unconscious woman, "is the real Contractor, _and _our ticket to finding the others." Reyna had nodded, impressed while the others gave me looks of disgust and distrust. Ah well, can't win them all, I thought.

After that, I had wasted no time. After sending the others to do different tasks, I quickly removed any potential weapon from the woman, tied her up to a chair, and started asking a few questions when she woke up. By the time the others returned, I was ready for our next step. I sent Reyna and Leo to check the garage for any vehicles that we could take, and to sweep them for bombs, trackers, and/or other booby traps while I explained to Jason, Frank, Hazel and Piper what we need to do.

"So let me get this straight," said Jason, "we're going to charge into the Six HQ with nothing more than two cars, seven teenagers, one hostage, and no weapons that work against mortals?"

"Yes, yes, yes, and no. I'll find something basic for you guys in the armory. But yeah, you got the basic idea. The thing is, the HQ is in a pretty public place, so they won't risk an open confrontation. Still, we'll be taking the stairs if it makes you feel any better." Judging from their excited expressions, they were just _thrilled._

If you don't note the sarcasm, please just- oh, it's not worth my time.

"You know, as soon as you're within ten blocks from HQ, you and your friends are going to die."

I simply nudged her back with my pistol. "That's why you're going to drive," I told her. She didn't say another word, not even when I placed her in the driver's seat of one of the Aston Martins we were taking and cuffed her to the steering wheel. Little Miss Sunshine immediately tried to turn on the car to escape, and I smirked at her efforts as I looked at the others.

"Ok guys, let's keep this simple. Remember, you belong here. Anyone asks, give your cover names and go with the flow. You are your cover. You belong to the Six. But most importantly, you do everything I say. Got it?" When everybody nodded, I stood straighter as I gave them a blank stare.

"Then let's save our friends and kick some ass."  
….

_45 minutes later_

Ok… what went wrong?

**Don't be afraid to Review!**


	18. Memories

**So, er… I'm back!**

**I'd like to give a shout out to XxGiRlOnFiRexX, teslaman, and Cockapoo for favoring/following my story! However, today's prize goes to Cockapoo for editing/betaing this chapter, and for giving me my first review in **_**months!**_** Thank you, everyone, thank you!**

**On with the show!**

Chapter 17 – Memories

_December 16__th__, 2012, 1215 hours – five days before the winter equinox – Half-Blood Hill_

If you could describe in one word, and in one word only, the view that you get from standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill, with the camp and the lake spread out on one side, and an empty road on the other side with trees on both sides of it, what would it be?

The only word David Achilles Johnson could come up with was serene.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

David turned in the direction of the voice, and immediately his opinion on his surroundings lessened. _Bleak,_ he decided, compared to the green-eyed black haired beauty standing next to him.

David smiled at her. "Just nervous," he paused, "but at the same time I'm wondering if I'll ever see this place again."

Kelly sighed, "I figured this would be hard for you."

David shook his head, "It's not that it's hard; Zeus knows it isn't. I'm just planning ahead in case of…"

"In case of the Sixes kidnapping me or the others," Kelly finished for him, nodding in agreement. She grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together in comfort. "Did you make the calls?" she asked him.

He grimaced, "Yeah, and I think we were better off not giving them a heads-up. There's only one district that would answer to me; the rest are being paid off by the Cloak. If things go wrong, we'll have no one to watch our backs."

"What about the cops?"

He shrugged, "Paid off by the Cloak as well. Apparently the daughter of the chief of police is being monitored by the Sixes." David scoffed, "Like I said, we're going in alone, not that it would make a difference otherwise."

Kelly nodded, "In that case, what should we do?"

No answer.

She looked at him, taking in his poker face and expressionless eyes. She mentally sighed, knowing that it was in moments like these in which no matter what she did or what she said, he would simply not say or do anything. When they had met, this was the face of David Achilles Johnson, retired assassin. It wasn't until they had started dating and David had shared his past with her that he started opening up to the camp, and Kelly prided herself with the knowledge that she was the one responsible for stopping the near-fatal retaliations he used to have against pranking. There were times of course in which something that someone said or did would trigger this sort of reaction from him, but they were rare and far in between. It didn't make things easier when they happened though.

"I just wish that we had more time."

Kelly whipped her head around to look at him surprise.

He let out an exasperated breath, "It's just… I know that the Sixes are going to kidnap you. Even without me in their force, they're just too good, and I'm not sure what would happen if-"

"David," he obediently stopped, "any amount of time we've had together will never be enough for me. If it's not the Sixes, then it's gods, monsters, and _every other fucking aspect of life_ getting between us. But that what makes moments like these…" she grabbed his rough hands in hers, looking up into his dark brown eyes, "…worth it."

There was no indication, no warning of any kind, as his lips descended on hers with a fury that she matched without hesitation, relishing their taste and the feel. He gently pushed her against Thalia's Tree, the Golden Fleece fluttering in the wind above their heads. His hands ran down her back as hers tangled in his hair, and she arched in response to his soft touch on her spine as his hands slipped under her shirt. She gasped, and his mouth was quick to take advantage of the moment by opening hers the rest of the way. She wasn't exactly a fan of the practice, but nobody would catch her complaining anytime soon.

It was in moments like these that no matter what the future would bring, no matter who stood in the way, that they both felt more powerful than the twelve gods of Olympus combined.

After what could have been years or seconds, they separated, David's arms maintaining their calm and protective presence around her. She leaned her head on her shoulder, listening to the strong steady beat of his heart, and was pleasantly surprised when she realized that it was matching her own.

David spoke, "When the time comes…"

She looked up, "It won't be about getting out; it'll be about getting the respect we need so they don't mess with us ever again."

David smiled, a glint in his love-filled eyes, "It will be all about the prestige."  
….

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1100 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox – Kelly_

_How does David manage this? Does he even _have _ADHD?_

That was the worst part, the waiting. While the rest of her companions had slept through the night, she was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling while her mind drifted. Consoling and reassuring her friends was to be expected, but that didn't make it any easier against the demons of doubt in her head. She knew the steps to the plan, she knew what to do, she knew the blind spots on the camera and gave them to Thalia, and most especially, she knew when to start.

All she had to do was wait.

"Kels, calm down would you?"

For a moment, Kelly thought that it had been David's voice that had spoken to her, but her heart hadn't been fooled for a moment.

"I am calm."

Thalia scoffed, "Compared to you, Kelp Head on a sugar rush is calm. I'm a Huntress of Artemis, remember? I can tell that you're anxious. You said it yourself. He's going to come, he'll get us out, and the two of you are going to ride out into the sunset… after we finish this quest of course."

Kelly glared at her, "Couldn't you stay catatonic for a few more minutes?"

She winced, and gave Kelly the finger the best that she could with her handcuffs on. In truth, she didn't want to say that, but powers responded to emotions, and she was going to need Thalia for what she was planning.

Such thoughts brought the rest of her friends to mind. Percy was fine; though unexpected, it hadn't been the first time he had been assaulted with his fear of drowning in his own element. Nico di Angelo was another matter. When Nico had been brought in, he had been shaking, his skin paler than usual and his eyes dilated, flickering around in panic. Nobody was able to get anything out of him, but after a while he had fallen asleep. He talked when he had woken up, and it took most of Kelly's willpower not to stand up and stupidly proclaim, 'Guys, we're getting out of here by ourselves, so follow my lead!' and ultimately lead everyone, even Jean, to their deaths.

This brought Jean to the forefront of her mind. Most girls would've been jealous or hateful to their boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, but Kelly knew better. It wasn't that she was jealous; far from it actually. The feeling towards the older woman was actually longing. No matter how much time Kelly spent with David and no matter how much the stubborn boy opened himself in her presence, she still had no clue whatsoever as to how David was before they met. All she knew was that the reason that he had left was that he was tired of that life, but Kelly knew that there was more to it.

Kelly shook her head; _there is a time and place for everything_, her inner David said, _what has to be done, has to be done, so have it done yesterday! _Of course, there would always be a huge chasm between saying that things had to be done and actually doing them.

"At least they let us have a radio in the room," Thalia was saying, "its bad enough that they had to separate us, with the present company and all." This of course, was directed to the guard that was stationed outside the door. Kelly grimaced at the reminder of the man; he would be the first to go.

She quickly derailed her train of thought, asking Thalia about her powers. The Huntress merely raised her cuffed arms with a dejected expression, separating her hands to show the small arcs of electricity travelling up and down her fingers. Of course, to Thalia it wasn't a big deal, but for Kelly it was more than enough.

"_And now, staring in 1987, on a very insistent request, we give you a taste of classics…" _Kelly cocked her head to the side as she listened to the radio, _"… and ending, as our kind requester said, with a bang!"_

"Oooh, I love this song!" said Thalia, "Guns 'n Roses forever, baby!"

Kelly grinned; this was the moment she had been waiting for. She called at Thalia, and said girl looked at her, taking in her expression and immediately going on alert. Kelly lifted a finger, pointing in a certain direction, and when Thalia got the message, she reached over and raised the volume on the radio while Thalia short-circuited the camera with the small amount of voltage she mustered.

By the time she climbed back down the chair she had placed against the wall to reach the camera, Kelly had already stuck her finger inside her mouth, reaching to her molar and attempting to pry the small object from the inside of the tooth. Agents, assassins and spies generally had tiny potassium cyanide glass capsules hidden in their teeth that they could break by crushing them with their molars, causing brain death within minutes with the heart following soon after. However, Kelly was none of these, so David had suggested another, more appealing, option.

"What are you doing, trying to puke?" asked Thalia in a whisper. Kelly rolled her eyes, her finger still inside her mouth. It wasn't too maneuverable with her hands cuffed, but she managed. Triumphantly, she pulled her finger out and spit the offending object into the palm of her hand.

"A seed?" said Thalia, incredulous, "That's what we're risking our lives and what's left of our sanity here?"

"Yes," said Kelly, "especially since I'm the most powerful daughter of Demeter born in a millennium and this," she help up the seed for emphasis, "is our key out of here."

Thalia blinked, "But I thought David..."

Kelly shook her head, closing her fist on the seed, "David isn't coming, at least not all the way; he's just going to provide the distraction we need to get out of here." Kelly paused, "Which should happen right about…" A tremor ran through the building, and she smiled, "now."

Just then, the door to the suite banged open and the guard came in brandishing his gun. "You girls, get away from each other!" he screamed. Thalia started to obey, but Kelly grabbed her and hugged her, playing the 'I'm-scared-of-this-stranger-please-hold-me' card. It helped that Thalia was initially confused with the action and tried to pry herself off, helping stimulate the confusion in the room.

The guard approached the two girls, roughly grabbing Thalia's arm. "I said, get off-" was all he managed before he stiffened, convulsing slightly; Thalia must not have liked him touching her, so she shocked him the best she could. Kelly took advantage of the moment, and a few seconds later the man fell to the ground, letting go of Thalia's arm and twitching slightly as blood flowed freely from his neck.

Thalia looked at the dead man, confused. "What-?" was all she managed before she saw the thin rod of wood in Kelly's hand, still red with blood. There was no time to keep assessing Thalia's reaction, however, because just then Kelly heard the footsteps from the guards in the other rooms. She quickly dove to the corpse, ignoring the blood, and grabbed the fallen gun, disengaging the safety, aiming and pulling the trigger. There was no sound, only the multiple vibrations of the silenced gun as it sprayed its load at the two guards, who fell to the ground, dead.

And then, God said, "_Let there be silence!" _And it was silent.

That is, until Kelly puked her guts over the three corpses.  
…

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1110 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox – Jean_

The whole situation had _David _written all over it. The diversion, the signal, the plan itself… hell, even the girl puking her guts out had to do with David.

_What was he thinking, sending in a half-trained sleeper agent… He could've gotten us killed! He could've at least told me…_ Jean stopped that train of thought quickly; she knew why he couldn't tell her the plan. She was in too much contact with both the Sixes and David, which meant that she was being monitored by multiple parties at the same time 24/7. In other words, she was compromised. Which is a depressing thought when you realize that the man – for David was no child – that delivered you at your wedding not two days past with his girlfriend as a witness can't trust you with a simple plan.

Jean sighed. There was no point in getting into those thoughts, so she might as well go through with David's plan. When Thalia had opened the door to their room, pale and shaking, Jean had been surprised, to say the least. She had assumed that the girl had made her first kill, or rather, kills, so she quickly got on alert, ready to deal with a crisis.

Thalia could speak, however, so that was Jean's first clue to realizing the truth. When Thalia told her and Annabeth – who had been imprisoned in the same room – what had transpired in the other room, Jean rushed out, storming into it and swiping the gun out of Kelly's hands before anyone blinked. She turned to the other girls then, telling, no, ordering them to wake up the boys. Once they had gone, she knelt over one of the corpses and swiped her wrists across a small panel in the belt. Her hand cuffs immediately opened, and she took them off, flexing her wrists to get the blood back into her hands.

"I know what you're thinking…" Jean whipped her head when Kelly spoke, aiming the silenced Heckler & Koch MP5 at her head. The other girl was still on her hands and knees, so she didn't see the gun; at least, that's what Jean thought.

"You think that David turned me into a sleeper, don't you?" rasped Kelly, "That's why you have that gun on me, right? So that you can kill me before you can look at me in the eye?" Jean didn't respond, but merely tightened her grip on the gun.

"How do you do it?"

The question had been expected, so Jean knew what she was asking. Answering it was another matter.

"I don't think about it."

Kelly scoffed, still not looking up, "Bullshit. You know that that's not true. I know that you don't sleep at night, I know about the nightmares! I've been David's girlfriend long enough to know what he sees every time he closes his eyes! I've been woken up in the middle of the night by screams that no one hears, consoled him when he wouldn't wake up, so don't fucking tell me that you don't think about it!"

That was when she decided to look up. Her eyes... simply put, they were shattered. Gone was the glint in her eyes, gone was the vibrancy of their color. _She needs _him_, she needs David, _Jean realized.

And by God she was going to get those two back together. But to do that, she had to get Kelly on her feet again.

"You're right, I do think about it. I just go by the philosophy that your boyfriend taught me: Do unto others as they would do unto you."

Kelly blinked, "The golden rule?"

After closing the door for some privacy, Jean nodded, "Let me tell you a short story before the others come back. Most of the time our job – David's and mine – was to cut loose ends from the organization. You have to understand, we never killed civilians. The average assassin would put a bomb in an intersection to get rid of one guy. We would make sure he died on his own assignment, and pin the blame on another loose end. It was easy, it was fool-proof, and there was no way for cops or assassins to trace the crime back to us or the Sixes.

"Here's where the golden rule applies. Every single one of those men and women would not have hesitated to kill us if we gave them one bit of mercy, so we had to kill them before they even had a chance to ask for it. David knew that, and that was why he was the best: he had no remorse, no mercy whatsoever. I learnt that lesson the hard way."

Jean sat down in front of Kelly, setting the gun aside and pulling off her shirt. Nudeness never bothered Jean, but there was no doubt that whatever Kelly had been expecting, it hadn't been this. Jean ignored her, lifting her left arm and tracing the skin around her heart and armpit.

Kelly winced as she saw the huge scar, "What happened?"

"I hesitated to pull the trigger when I wasn't supposed to. Bitch got me good; she hit me with a shotgun, blasted off most of the area around my heart." Jean traced the scar with her right hand, which covered the front of her left shoulder, part of her arm, and her armpit. "If it hadn't been for David, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. He took the shot when he saw her move, so her aim was off by an inch. He managed to get me to the hospital in time." Jean shivered at the memory, "The doctors wanted to take me straight to the morgue, so David picked me up from the stretcher and took me to the operating room, locking it and not allowing anyone in.

Jean smiled, "Eight hours in surgery, all courtesy of your boyfriend. He put the bones back where they were supposed to be, pulled out the fragments, replaced what had to be replaced…" She shook her head, putting her shirt back on, "I owe him, big time. It wasn't the first time he saved my life, you know. David recruited me when he was twelve; I was fifteen at the time, and these two rapists had cornered me in an alley. I was a junkie, with no family and no money, and it had been that way for at least seven years."

Jean paused, looking at Kelly to assess her reaction. The younger girl had a perfect poker face on, but she was still pale from her first kill. Jean repressed a smile; she had good control of her emotions.

After a few moments, Jean continued, "They had been chasing me for a few days, but they finally caught up to me. I was young, I was pretty… I remember thinking that my ass was going to be the death of me."

Kelly smiled, "Sounds like something that David would say."

Jean mimicked her smile, "I like to think that I had influenced David as well." A pause, "You know, when we met, he wasn't going by David Achilles Johnson. To the world, he was Peter Leroy Jackson, and he never told me his real name until a few days ago. There were two people with the same face out there, and neither the Six nor I ever found David Achilles Johnson."

Kelly held up a hand, "So wait, what's his real name then?"

"Oh, don't worry, his real name is David A. Johnson," Jean reassured her, "but none of us knew. The only person who might have known was his trainer, and she vanished after she finished with him."

Kelly nodded, motioning for Jean to continue her story, "So what happened?"

"Well, I managed to kill one of them – you learn a thing or two in the streets – but the other guy just tapped me on the neck and I was down, but before he could do anything else a knife did what I couldn't. He was a loose end, you see, and Peter – David, I mean, had been hired to kill him. David had seen what I did to the other guy, though, and after asking me a few questions, he asked me if I wanted a new life. I said yes.

"Now I know what you're thinking, that I took a twelve-year-old seriously when I should've run away screaming bloody murder. I mean, here's this three-foot-tall midget with a knife who just saved my life and is asking me if I want a job and a new life-"

"Wait, he was three feet tall?" interrupted Kelly, who was trying not to laugh at the new information.

Jean laughed as she nodded, holding her hand a certain distance from the ground, "He was like this tall! I used to joke around that no wonder nobody would see him, since nobody would exactly look down!" Kelly joined in with her laughter, and after a few seconds they quieted down.

"So, he recruited you and he trained you. What then?"

Jean gave a small smile, "He trained me for about a year, and when he finished, for three years we never went on a job without each other. I'll admit, we dated for a while, slept together once or twice – mind you, this was when he was older – but it never really worked out that way, so we stayed friends. Although I like to think of him as a brother, you know? He did so much for me, and the least I could do for him was to be his friend, especially since I was the only one he had.

"David was a solitary kid. When he started training me his only companion was his teacher, and she disappeared a few months into my training. After that, I was his only friend. Sure, he had his acquaintances, but he never really related to anyone except to me, and that worried me. In those days, he was an easygoing guy, like he is now, but he was too mature for his age. Then things started going downhill.

"He started getting depressed. I think it began on a mission when he was fourteen. We were in Los Angeles, and we were tracking the target across the whole damn city. On the way, we passed this empty playground, and we decided to take a breather, so we sat down on the swings. He asked me something, I don't exactly remember what, but it had to do with children… something like 'Did I ever wonder what it would be like to be one of them?' I remember not knowing how to answer the question, but I did the best I could. I don't think he was satisfied though.

"After the mission, he was never the same. It started slowly, and I noticed that he wasn't as happy as he was before, not that he was happy in the first place. After about a year, his depression got so bad that he started drinking, smoking… fortunately he hadn't started drugs, but the alcoholism was getting out of hand. Then one day, a guy tried to hit on me, and David – you know how protective he is – saw the knife in his hand before I did. He killed him with his bare hands before I could pulled him off, and it wasn't until after he calmed down that he told me. Later that day we found out that the asshole was on a mission, and that David was the target."

Jean cleared her throat, her voice suddenly tight, "He was fifteen at the time. He never knew his birthday, so we decided that it would be on the day we met: April 22nd of 2008. And the whole fiasco was on April 22nd of 2011." Jean scoffed, "Ironic, the day that I met my brother was the day I lost him. We knew that he wasn't in any condition to fight back if it came down to it, so we both agreed: He needed to disappear. That didn't make the goodbye any easier.

"It was the last time I saw Peter Jackson… until I walked into a bar four days ago and saw David Johnson sitting there, having a drink. It was also the day that I realized that I was a legacy, not a demigod as I had previously thought."

Kelly looked at her, surprised, "May I ask of who?"

"Mars from my father, Athena on my mother. Both of them are dead, I killed them myself."

"Greek _and _Roman?"

"It's a small world."

Silenced enveloped the room, but it was a comfortable one. Jean felt good after talking to Kelly; she had been slightly worried that Kelly would be jealous of her somehow, so a part of her decided that talking about her past would be enough of an explanation.

"You never answered my question."

Kelly's voice drew Jean out of her thoughts, and she looked at the assassin-in-training with a small smile.

"I did." Jean stood up, grabbing the gun from the floor and extending her hand for Kelly to take. "Now come on, let's beat up those eavesdroppers on the door and get out of here."

Kelly smiled, and accepted the hand.


	19. Incoming Transmission

_Static._

_Incoming Transmission, processing data…_

_Projecting in 3_

_Projecting in 2_

_Projecting in 1_

The image cleared, revealing a young teenager. He had brown hair, with brown eyes, high cheekbones, and a scar that ran along the left side of his face, pulling his lip so that it looked like he was grimacing. His face expressed nothing, betrayed no emotion, other than the unintentional look that the scar gave him.

"Hello, to whomever this may concern. My name is David Achilles Johnson. The date is," he looked down at a phone that was strapped to his wrist, "20th of December of 2012, at 0900 hours." The boy looked back at the camera, which panned back revealing a fit body of 5'11 and a tribal tattooed left arm. On either side of his waist there were two sheathed knives, and hanging from twin holsters on the sides of his chest were two identical pistols. He wore black camouflage pants, black combat boots, and a Kevlar bulletproof vest on top of a black t-shirt.

"The reason for this video transmission is simple. I have programed this computer to release this video on the 24th of December at an unspecified time, so I'll start by wishing the viewer a Merry Christmas. Even though the events that shall occur today, December 20th, may determine whether or not tomorrow is the end of the world, I assure the viewer that I shall do all in my power to make sure that it isn't. But, I digress."

He took a deep breath, "In a way, this video shall be one of the many 'last will and testament's' I will make in my life. In the events of my death, please have all of my personal items to be destroyed by any method, unless dictated otherwise by Kelly Esperanza Dunstan." At the name, the boy's face softened slightly, with a small smile gracing his lips. The look soon vanished, however, and was replaced by a perfect poker face once more, "Weapons can be reused, but only after they have been purged of any DNA or fingertip trace left by my person. Any details regarding these weapons shall be managed by my associate, Jean-Diane Collins.

"Now, let me apologize in advance for what the future may bring to the viewer. Dark times are coming, and soon, secrets shall not be. Truth will be bitter, but I pray to the gods and the three fates that we can all swallow it with pride and honor when the time comes. Death will be a commodity and a luxury that not many will be able to afford, and pain will become something that we must tolerate. I am sorry, but the truth is never sweet."

Voices soon filtered through the video, and the teenager seemed to age beyond his years, "Our time has come to an end. Remember, unknown viewer, that no matter what the future brings, there will always be strength in numbers. There will be a time when you will either fight or run, but until then, I wish you happiness and pleasure. Merry Christmas, and may the gods grant us a Happy New Year's as well."

_Static – Data stream interrupted._

_Transmission End._


	20. Knowing

**Hey guys! Happy New Year!**

Chapter 18 – Knowing

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1130 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox – Kelly_

"So… when are we getting out of here?"

Kelly looked at young Nico di Angelo with a serious expression, "When the signal comes."

"I thought you said that the signal already came," said Thalia, confused.

"That was the first one," Jean assured her, "we have to wait for the seconds signal."

"What second signal?"

Just then, one of the bookcases in the living room opened, but no one came through. Kelly looked Thalia with a smirk, and the other girl rolled her eyes.

"So we're just going to walk out?" Leave it to Annabeth to point that out.

Jean answered with a simple, "Yep" and walked out the secret door. Kelly didn't even look at Annabeth's expression for fear of bursting in laughter as she followed Jean, making sure that the SMG in her hands was ready to fire. She didn't exactly hope that she would need it, but then again, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Her inner David was finishing that statement with something not apt for minors.

Kelly mentally shook her head. _Focus,_ she chided herself. Jean had silently taken care of the two guards that had been posted at the end of the hallway they were in, and was signaling for the others to hold at the corner. Kelly looked around, half-surprised at her surroundings; by the looks of things, the Sixes somehow managed to place their HQ in a hotel of sorts, judging from the numbered doors, the style of lights, and the carpeted floor.

Jean spoke in a whisper when the group reached her, "Ok, now listen: Our first objective is to get out of the cell block _silently._ We have to get to the armory to get your weapons back. Percy, has your sword made an appearance yet?"

Percy shook his head, "I don't have any pockets, so it can't come back. Besides, that only works if I put the pen in the pocket myself."

"And your powers?" This was directed to everyone who had some.

"I feel stronger already," said Nico, "but I'm not sure if I'm fully recovered yet."

"Same here," said Percy.

"I thought you just needed some water and you would be fine," said Kelly, surprised.

"Yeah, but that would take a while, and there was no water in the suite."

"Well, that's your problem," said Thalia, "'cause I feel ready to kick some ass!" Small arcs of electricity ran up and down her arms and torso in emphasis. Apparently she had managed to open one of the electrical circuits for the lights back in the suite, and had simply grabbed it and 'powered up'.

"Quiet down, will you?" Jean reprimanded them, "Why don't you get a megaphone while you're at it? Do you want to die here? Thalia, tone down the power, you could be traced if you're not careful."

"Traced?" asked Annabeth, "What do you mean, traced?"

"Exactly that. Somehow, we managed to get our hands on some tech a few years ago that allowed us to track foreign energy levels in a certain area, but it wasn't accurate enough to pinpoint an exact location. Now, we can follow a person through a crowded market by tracing the specific combination of static, chemical and electrical energy signatures that a person has."

_Like David and his aura vision,_ though Kelly, intrigued.

"Does David know this?" she asked Jean, worried.

The woman scoffed, "Of course he does. He was the one that modified the tech. Now, enough lollygagging and let's get the fuck out of here."  
…

A few minutes later, the group was well underway to the armory, and after that, freedom. They had had a few more encounters with guards, and both Kelly and Jean had been forced to take some lives, neither of them hesitating to pull the trigger, though the former was doing so reluctantly. She knew what the law was, kill or be killed.

The others were shocked by the transformation that Kelly had undergone. The girl was strong, fast, and downright lethal in a battle, but if someone had asked them a few months prior what would they think about the current situation, they would have sent that person straight to Dionysus himself for a mental check-up. Not that that person would return, but that was out of the point. Still, it wasn't easy for them to watch her kill and kill again; at the same time that they felt guilty for not helping, they were reluctant to take human lives. Besides, they would only get in the way, and it was obvious that the two women – because Kelly was far from being a teenage girl at the moment – had the situation under control.

Kelly processed this in the back of her mind, somehow interpreting all the information while holding a pistol in one hand and a vine-whip in the other, all the while simultaneously looking around and interpreting her surroundings as she and Jean led the charge. She had made the wood dagger grow even more, elongating and gaining flexibility as it grew into a sturdy vine that felt more comfortable in her hands. She felt like Indiana Jones, using a pistol and a whip to batter down her enemies while her companion was more comfortable with dual-wielding SMGs. It wasn't until now that she finally appreciated how her inborn battle-reflexes helped manage the information faster than she received it, especially since her small amount of training with David had honed them even more than the average demigod.

"We're almost there," Jean notified the group, "the armory is just up ahead, through this corridor."

None of them dared to answer. Kelly understood the group's reluctance, and gave them an encouraging smile. Unfortunately, the smile fell when they turned the corner.

"What in the name of the Styx…?"

The corridor ahead of them had seen a fight, and recently. Some of the lights had been smashed, the wallpaper was ripped in some places, and parts of the walls were smashed in like someone had punched them without any regard for their knuckles, while the rest was riddled with bullet holes and claw marks. The worst part, however, was the huge pool of blood and the skinned corpse lying in the middle of the hallway. Looking at it made the hair on Kelly's neck stand straight; there was something oddly familiar about it that gave her the chills.

After signaling for them to stop, Jean moved towards the corpse, sniffing slightly and touching the blood. "It's fresh," she said, "less than five minutes ago."

"That can't be right, we would've heard it!" rebuffed Annabeth, but Jean didn't answer, moving around the corpse and examining the walls, floor and ceiling. Annabeth frowned, observing Jean, but staying silent. Jean, satisfied with her examination, moved back to the group.

"Well, that was… interesting," she said.

"What was?" asked Percy. Jean looked at him, then let her gaze wander across the rest.

"Well, for starters, there was more than one person here. From where we're coming, there's only one set of footprints in the carpet," she said, pointing at a certain section in the floor, "The step is male, I would say weighing about 150… He was cautious, using the wall as cover. We'll call him number 1."

She pointed where the corpse was, "From the other direction, there are three sets of prints, and they came before number 1, but two of them left before he showed up."

"How can you tell?" Thalia asked; as a Huntress, she was intrigued by how Jean was reading everything around her and interpreting it.

"I trained for this," was Jean's curt answer, "Guy number 2, who stayed behind, waited for at least two minutes. He stood right where our little friend is," here, she pointed at the corpse, "and started to transform."

Silence.

"Excuse me?"

Jean looked up, surprised, and her expression cleared as she understood, "Right, you guys don't know…"

"Know what, Jean?" asked Kelly, slightly put off; she didn't exactly want more things between her and David, after all.

Jean sighed, "Starting a few months ago, Therianthropes started popping up in different areas of the United States."

"Thery… what?" asked Percy, confused.

"Therianthropes," said Annabeth, "Humans that can transform into animals. Like Werewolves, which are humans that transform into wolf-like hybrids."

"Ah," said Percy, "so like the Egyptian gods?"

Annabeth blinked, surprised and impressed at the same time, "Yes and no. Those are called theriocephalous, which have human bodies but animal heads." She turned to Jean, "So we're facing werewolves?"

Jean shook her head, "If we were, we would know. Lycans are unstable; once they transform, they succumb to the wolf completely, losing all trace of their humanity in the process. The only known Lycanthrope that retained part of his humanity is Lycaon, king of the werewolves, and nobody knows where he is. Besides, these Therianthropes could transform at will; Lycanthropes only do so at the full moon."

Thalia held up her hand, "Ok, enough with the history lesson. One, exactly what is it that these Therianthropes transform into, two, do they have any weaknesses, and three, what are their strengths?"

Jean gave her a small smile, "Well, the only known weakness is that when they're in human form, they can't die. It isn't until they transform that they can be killed, and it can be done in any way you want. In human form, they're faster and stronger than the average human, almost on par with a demigod. When they transform, however…" Jean shivered slightly, "There's a reason why the Sixes call them Ravagers. As to what they transform into… well, it can only be a new species."

"Any distinguishing features?" asked Annabeth.

Jean chuckled, "When they're human? No, but when they're in Ravager form… Well, you can't tell with this one, except for the jaw." She moved to the corpse, using her gun to turn the head, revealing to the group the split jaw and teethed tongue.

Kelly paled as the group cursed and backed away. It was the same creature that attacked David at Camp Half-Blood, though the difference was that now it had a name.

And it had infected Clarisse.

"How do they pass the infection?" she asked Jean, fearing the answer. The nineteen-year-old looked at her, confused, "Can they pass the curse onto another human?"

Jean nodded, "The venom is in their tongue. The victim usually falls into a five-day coma, sometimes less, and when they wake up they can transform at will. Sometimes they stay awake for the whole process, but those are the most difficult to manage." Jean looked at Kelly, her face expressionless but her eyes giving her a clear message.

An image of David fighting the Ravager at Camp flashed across Kelly's mind. She sneaked a look at Annabeth. The blonde was frowning, but didn't look like she had arrived at the same conclusion that both Jean and Kelly had. Hopefully, it would stay that way.

Kelly asked Jean, hoping to distract Annabeth to an extent, "So what happened after the Ravager transformed?"

She gave her a pointed look in response, and waved her hand at their surroundings, "This shit happened. Number one opened fire, stalling the ravager, and somehow skinned the thing where it stood."

"Sounds like something a telekinetic would be able to do," said Nico. He had been so silent Kelly had almost forgotten he was there.

"Why would David be here?" asked Percy, "If he's going to the armory, then he'll only bring more attention to us instead."

"I won't pretend to know what goes through his mind," said Jean, standing up, "but I think we'll find out soon enough. Let's move."

After skirting the Ravager corpse, they pressed on at a full sprint, Jean and Kelly in the lead. They passed a few more scenes of battle, but none of them had – to the half-bloods – the newly discovered Ravagers, only Six operatives. Every now and then Jean would bend on one of the corpses, closing their eyes, quickly getting up and continuing to run without a backward glance or an explanation, not that anyone asked in the first place.

After about ten minutes of this, the group stopped when Jean held up her hand. "We're here," she said, removing the safety from her gun as Kelly mimicked her actions, "Just around this corner. Be careful though; even though we know what we're up against, let's not take any chances, alright?" Everybody nodded their assent, "Good. Thalia, watch our backs. Nico, if anything goes wrong, I want you to temporarily revive one of those corpses, but keep it under control. Kelly, you're with me."

With that, the two women slowly moved forward at a half-crouch, guns at the ready. Kelly took the time to observe her surroundings, opening her senses as best as she could. When they turned the corner, she was surprised at the obviousness of the armory, for lack of a better word. It was a familiar looking steel door, with a horizontal lever serving as doorknob. Above the door, in red neon lights, she read MORYAR, and then realized that it actually said ARMORY. There were two dead agents close to the door, but they were just that: dead.

"How is it that they have all of this in a hotel?" asked Kelly, curious.

"Well, it's pretty easy when you own the place."

"I thought it was owned by some real estate company…"

"Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds is funded in part by the Sixes. They own most of the shares." Kelly noticed that she was no longer including herself in the Sixes, using 'them' instead of 'us', but decided not to comment on it.

Just then, they reached the door. Kelly immediately moved to the right of it, turning her vine-whip back into a wooden knife as she kneeled next to the door. Jean stood in front of it, slinging one of her SMGs onto her back, and quietly making sure the other was ready. Kelly did the same with her pistol, removing the safety and examining her clip. Satisfied, she looked at Jean, holding her fist upwards. Jean nodded, and Kelly quietly grabbed the lever as her heartbeat started to quicken. With a swift movement, she opened the door.

Later on, when she was asked what had happened, she would only be able to give small details. But at the exact moment she opened the door, many things happened at once. Jean was thrown back, pushed by some invisible force, and Kelly quickly rolled into the doorway, pulling the trigger on her pistol. Her mind didn't react to the immediate jamming of the gun, but her hand did, and moments later the useless firearm was flying towards the silhouette inside the room, but the man or woman quickly batted it aside with its hand, and suddenly Kelly dove forward with her knife poised to strike-

And found herself in the same position as she had been six months ago, with a gun at her head and a knife at her enemy's throat.

"Dejá vú," said David Achilles Johnson with a grin.

No less than a second later, the two of them had dropped their weapons and were kissing like there was no tomorrow.


	21. Escape from Las Vegas

**I'd like to thank Cockapoo for being my – only – constant reviewer so far. Even though we may have a tiny competition as to who updates faster and more frequently (which she is currently winning :/ ), those reviews seriously make my day :D**

**To anyone who's actually visited the Stratosphere Las Vegas… as you can obviously see, I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about when I describe the hotel, so no flames, **_**please!**_

**On with the show!**

**WARNING: ****This chapter has a very bloody scene. Read at your own discretion.**

Chapter 19 – Escape from Las Vegas

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1200 hours – One day before the Winter Equinox_

Of course, leave it to Jean to interrupt my reunion with Kelly by smacking the both of us up our heads. Sure, she was justified, but couldn't she have waited at least ten more seconds?

Leave it to my own head to remind me of the lecture I had given Jason and the others when I heard of their little adventures. I sighed at my own antics; after all, if I couldn't get my own hormones under control, then the least I could do was to make sure others didn't fall for the same trap.

"Do you mind?" Jean's curt voice brought me back to the present, "We need to get out of here ASAP, as you might want to know. Why the hell are you here?"

The rest of the group had caught up, and some of them were giving me suspicious looks, not that I blamed them. I sighed, and started the tale without letting go of Kelly's hand while I rubbed my forehead with the other.

"Let me explain while we get ourselves ready to move out," I said, grabbing everybody's weapons and handing to each, "The plan was for Piper, Hazel and I to enter the hotel through the front door. Jason was supposed to remotely set off some explosives about 7 blocks south, and the Sixes were supposed to be drawn out so that we could enter the Casino. Leo and Reyna were supposed to enter exactly five minutes before us and head to the top floor to hijack one of the helicopters on the helipad. Jason, after setting off the explosives, was supposed to head there as well to provide backup if it was needed, while the girls and I sneaked into the restricted floors and busted you guys out. Frank wasn't going to participate directly, but he was going to provide recon for us."

"Supposedly?" said Annabeth as I started picking out firearms.

"Well, yeah," I started handing the pistols out, "Uh, those are semi-automatic-"

"Glock 17's, we know," said Nico, his voice stiff, "Get on with the story. Where's my sister?" His voice made me rethink giving him a gun.

"Getting to that," I said, turning back to the racks; I still hadn't found my iCarry, Jean's Desert Eagle, or any of Kelly's weapons, "Well, Jason set off the explosives, we got in the hotel, and Leo and Reyna had managed to sneak in before us successfully. Jason got away while the Sixes swarmed the place, Leo and Reyna were almost to the helipad, and the girls and I were well en-route to you guys. _That's _when everything went wrong; apparently the Fates wanted entertainment."

"Ambush?" asked Jean.

I paused, my hand hovering over a pistol, "Yeah." I grabbed the gun, and passed it to her. She gave a small smile as her hand curved around the Desert Eagle's grip. "We were attacked. Somehow they knew we would be there, and they waited for us. We pulled through though, and they didn't even have to lift a finger." I turned to Nico, "Your sister's safe. I had Frank pull them out of there; they radioed in that they were at the safe house already." The younger boy's relief was obvious in the way his shoulders sagged. _We'll have to work on that if these guys plan to survive in the future…_

I continued while I continued searching, "So, ambush, Frank comes in and gets the girls out, and I moved on alone. Unfortunately, things got sour again. By this it was around 10:30, and I was worried that if I left you guys a minute more with the Sixes, there wouldn't be anything left to rescue… and I wasn't going to let that happen." I turned, "Percy, I think your pen is on that rack." The Son of Poseidon blinked, looking over to where I pointed and moving over.

"David, that must have been over an hour-and-a-half ago," Jean pointed out, "so what happened?"

I sighed, "I got captured like a moron. They used a recording of Kelly's voice to lure me where they wanted and I fell for it. On top of that, when the door locked behind me, they set the demons against me."

"Ravagers," said Kelly, "How many?"

I blinked, surprised at the new information, "I don't know, about 20? 30? I really wasn't counting…"

"How did you survive?" asked Annabeth.

"Nico," I said simply, and I explained the soul-absorption process he had taught me about four months ago, and its temporal rewards, "If I didn't know the trick, I wouldn't be talking to you guys. But unfortunately, it's like an Induced Adrenaline Burst: once it stops, you have a hard time staying awake. I feinted after killing the Ravagers, and woke up about an hour ago in a locked room with my powers blocked, which is not cool, let me tell you."

"We know," said Percy, "We were locked up in a similar way. Any idea how that might be possible?"

I frowned, "I'm not sure, but I think the Cloak – you met that asshole? – might be an ergokinetic."

Annabeth gasped, "He has direct control over _energy_?"

I nodded, grim, "Yeah, but if he is he barely has any control over other people's powers. I was able to kill the guards with telekinesis less than ten minutes after the Cloak left."

"Well, let me tell you that you were definitely lucky then," Kelly said, "Everyone's powers were completely blocked, including mine, and they only returned gradually until today."

I frowned, "We'll have to figure that our later then."

After I killed them, I used one of their radios and called the Romans to have them set off one of the signal bombs and to call the radio station so that Kelly would get the signal. After that, I just started moving here to get our stuff back. Which leads to a new topic: when I fought the Ravager in CHB, it somehow resisted my powers completely, but when I fought them here, my telekinesis was much more effective."

"It's probably the fact that you're absorbing their souls," said Nico, "You're becoming more and more familiar with them on a very basic level, so that opens a lot of doors for you. Either way, does it matter? You can kill them now, which is the important thing."

I nodded in agreement, "You're probably right. Leo and Reyna are on standby, by the way."

"Then let's go!" said Thalia, "What are we waiting for, another signal?"

"No, I just need to find…" I trailed off when I saw the safe. I swiped my hand at it with a clawing motion, and the door flew off with a screech. Kneeling, I reached inside and pulled out the objects I was looking for: my iCarry, and Kelly's ring and bracelet.

"You do realize that that safe could've been booby trapped, right?" Thalia pointed out.

"Most safe booby traps focus on the opening and the movement of the internal mechanisms. I don't think that ripping the door off applies." Nevertheless, I kinetically checked the objects for any offending booby traps. When I was satisfied, I curled my fingers, and the phone and jewelry floated out of the safe.

I turned to Kelly with a smile, "For you, my lady."

She grinned as she caught the ring and bracelet, slipping them on after testing first her sword (her ring) and then her M60 (the bracelet). I never found out who charmed them for her so that they would store themselves as everyday objects, but I assumed that it had either been her mother or one of the children of Hecate at Camp. After that, I handed her a belt with a side holster and a small sheathe on the side. She put her stolen pistol – a Glock 17 – in the holster, and to my surprise, grabbed a Six Standard Issue Combat Knife, slipping it into the sheathe. Before I could ask her about the wooden knife that she was using however, the knife in question started to change and lengthen. A few seconds later, there was a long vine in her hand, with the handle made out of polished wood and a small rune at the pommel. On closer inspection, I realized that the rune was a miniature version of barley, which was one of the Symbols of Demeter.

"Can we go now?" Nico asked impatiently. I shook my head in response.

"Not yet," I pointed to a closet in the back of the armory, and after a moment blinked in surprise. _It should've…_ I continued as if nothing, "There are bulletproof vests over there, I think. Find one that fits you and put it on, all of you." Of course, I really wasn't talking to all of them; Jean had already found one and had strapped it on while I was looking for the weapons. Kelly gave me a kiss before heading towards the closet, but not before giving me a strange look.

Five minutes later, we were ready.

"Jean, you and I are taking point. Kelly, Thalia, you cover our backs. The rest of you be on your guard. Let's move!" And move we did. Foe that stood in our way, died. Foe that tried to flank us, received a nice blast of solid water (not exactly Ice, but just as hard), a bolt of electricity, or a bullet between the eyes. True, there weren't that many encounters, but I was proud of my companions. Not because they were killing, but because of how well they were responding in the current situation.

Finally, we reached the last corridor before the elevator. Of course, I wasn't a fool enough to use them. One press of a button, and we would either plummet to our deaths, or stop have the doors open to trigger-happy morons. Not my way of getting out, thank you very much.

I looked at my phone, dialing a number, and unwrapping it from my wrist to put it against my ear comfortably. My contact answered on the second ring, "We move in?"

"Move in, we're on our way. We're on the twentieth floor, so expect us in less than 10."

"Got it, we'll be ready." Reyna hung up after that, and I turned to the others.

"The stairs are a couple more corridors after the elevators," I notified, "We're almost out of here."

Unfortunately, the elevator just _had _to ding at that moment. I used the corner as cover, taking aim, but froze when I saw who it was, adrenaline jump-starting immediately.

"A pity," said the Cloak as he/she stepped out of the elevator, "We were having so much fun." The Cloak still had his mask on, and the signature cloak and whip, but he also carried a silenced M16 assault rifle with Hybrid Scope and under-barrel grenade launcher.

_Ah, fuck._

I took note of the elevator hall. There were four elevators, two on each side of the corridor, and the Cloak had come from the one farthest to us on the right. From my vantage point, it also seemed like the elevators on the right were made of glass, with a view to the outside of the hotel. _Interesting…_

I pulled the trigger on my automatic berretta, spraying the hallway, and the Cloak reacted just as I expected: he stepped right back inside the elevator, and into – relatively – safe cover. I rolled out of my own cover towards the opposite wall, ignoring Jean's cry of surprise, jumping from the floor and stepping against the wall, throwing myself towards the elevators on the left with the aerial route. I flipped in midair, planting my feet against the closest elevator to the group, and jumped once more, berrettas firing. The Cloak tried to return fire, but the truth was that I had surprised him. I slammed into him, my momentum carrying us forward and into the already cracked elevator glass, which broke under the strain of our combined weight and propelling us into thin air.

_Use the damn whip!_

As if he heard my thought, the Cloak was quick to unravel it and latch it onto the bottom of the elevator we had just fallen out of while I hung onto him with one hand. He was quick to try and stab me, but I blocked it with one of my knuckle knives. We only managed to exchange a couple of blows when the momentum of our swing smashed the elevator doors on the floor below the one we had just been in, and I lost my grip on him. I rolled onto the carpet, quickly getting up and running towards the stairs.

_Crack!_

The Cloak's whip had latched onto my ankle, managing to trip me and leading me to believe he had seriously downplayed his skill when he had tortured my CIA target two days ago. That or he sacrificed someone to Fortuna and earned himself a huge dose of luck.

I was leaning towards the first one.

I rolled once more, avoiding the 5.56 mm bullets headed towards me. I returned fire, not having lost my guns in the fall from the elevator, but the Cloak was already behind cover. On top of that, he had also managed to unwind his whip from my ankle without me noticing. _There goes _that _spoil of war…_

The Cloak tried to fire at me once more, but a kinetic blast was enough to disperse the bullets and make my enemy stumble as I ran to the stairs once more. I heard his whip slash through the air once last time, but this time I was ready, jumping forward in a roll and slamming into the stairwell door, which opened with my weight as I slipped the object I had pickpocketed from the Cloak into my iCarry. I could see that Jean was on the same flight of stairs I was, while the others were climbing up, no doubt at her insistence. I got up quickly, the adrenaline in my system allowing me to tear off a piece of the stairway handrail and put it against the door.

Then I remembered the Cloak's gun, and by the look on Jean's face, so had she. My heartbeat was literally screaming at me to move.

So we jumped, just before I heard the grenade launcher fire its first round to the door.  
….

We landed on the flight of stairs just above the group, but only Kelly noticed, as the others were a little preoccupied with the explosion that had happened below us. I watched with a small smirk at the slow motion of her eyes widening and her mouth opening in a shriek that would obviously attract the other's attention. I wouldn't hear anything; as a matter of fact, the only thing I could or would hear was the overcharged rhythm of my heartbeat.

Unfortunately, out of the corner of my eye I saw the doorway two levels above us start to open, and the small metallic glint of a weapon escaped through the small space. I turned to Jean, who had already seen what I had and was already lacing together her fingers to boost me up. I held up both hands. _Ten seconds._

As soon as I put my foot in her hands, she pulled, and the combined strength of my jump and her boost was enough to throw me towards the opposite wall of the next floor. Flipping in midair, I planted my feet against the side of the opposite stairway and jumped once more, no doubt leaving the imprint of my feet in the metal as I flew off of it. When I was close to the stairs in front of the still-opening doorway, I reached out, grabbing onto the railing and jumping over it. As soon as my feet touched the metal stairs, I reached out, letting go of the railing and grabbing the side of the door with both hands. I pulled, ripping it from its hinges with almost-Herculean strength. I spun, door in hand, and when I faced the armed surprised men (who just happened to be conveniently positioned in a straight line), I lunged, using the top of the door as a spear.

It went through the three of them like a hot knife through butter.

_Eight seconds left._

The door didn't exactly fit snugly in their bodies, per se, so it ended up connecting them diagonally, one side of the door in their right hip, the other jutting out of their left shoulders, barely missing the hearts of the first two. The third one, however, ended up with part of the door in his neck, almost severing his head. Gore flew out of their wounds when the door pierced them, bones pulverized with satisfying crunches, and blood splattered me, the walls, and the floor. _Cleanup on isle 4,_ I thought sadistically as I turned away, spotting some more agents coming out a couple of levels below the group, as well as above me. Thankfully, Jean had already moved to the ones below, so I merely stepped onto the railing and jumped, pulling myself onto the stairs above me.

_Seven seconds left._

And I used those seconds wisely. It was one of those video game moments in which you realize that you just walked into a trap and you can see everything and everyone emerging from their hiding spots to kill you. In this case, I wasn't alone, thank Insidia, since Jean was taking advantage of her adrenaline burst as much as I was, while the rest of us were conveniently distracting our victims. Unfortunately, things went to hell pretty quickly.

_Ravager, two levels below us. Guards, floor above me, taken care of, _I thought as I flipped the two men over the railing and into space. It was strange to see them fall in slow-motion, and it was even stranger when Jean used one of the bodies as a stepping stone to climb a level while it was still in midair. _Ah, the beauty and wonders of- holy shit, this guy won't get the message will he?_

The Cloak had decided to rejoin the fight. Thankfully, it didn't look like he was using an adrenaline burst, but I wasn't taking chances. I jumped over the railing once more into a free-fall, and planted my foot onto one of the still-falling bodies that I had dumped, propelling it in the Cloak's direction while I slammed into the Ravager. The black demon was quick, and managed to stick one half of its bottom jaw into my right armpit, exactly where I had been shot. That's _going to hurt later, _was the only thing that came to mind as I ripped the Ravager's head off, blood spraying everywhere. Taking a peek at the Cloak, I grinned when I saw the body I had thrown at him successfully knock him back inside the hallway we had emerged.

_Five seconds left._

I casually reached out and grabbed onto the nearest railing, throwing myself up three floors with just the strength in my arms. Reaching the group, I saw to my amusement that Jean had picked up Percy, Annabeth and Nico and was currently running up the stairs, the boys tucked under her arms and Annabeth on her back. How she managed was beyond me. I looked at the two girls left behind with an evil grin. They only had time to blink as I grabbed Thalia by her arms, praying that she wouldn't shock me while we made the run (not that I would feel it), putting her on my back and placing her arms around my neck. Once that was done, I picked Kelly up bridal-style and started following Jean. The whole process took less than a second.

_Four seconds left._

The run to the roof, and consequently the helipad, was done quickly and without incident, bursting through the open doorway and seeing the others stumble around on unsteady feet. Placing both girls on their feet (which took less than half a second), I turned around to take care of the door, bolting it shut. That done, I turned around to finish the task of taking the girls to the chopper, when I realized one thing.

_Time out._

Immediately, any energy in my body fled. My heartbeat stopped with a painful _thump_, and my eyes rolled into my head as my legs buckled and I fell to the floor. My mouth opened, but my lungs wouldn't breathe. _Too long, _I realized, _too much stress to my body. _My brain panicked, but by body refused to respond. Sound battered my ears, but I could not hear. My vision started to tunnel, darkening around the edges and the colors smudging together.

Basically, I was dying.

In my panic, I started to offer an improvised prayer in Latin: _Insidia… Mater… Dírige me… Adiuva me… Protege me de tenebris, ut et ipsi nunquam consumet spiritum meum…_

Insidia… Mother… Guide me… Help me… Protect me from the shadows, may they never consume my spirit…

My prayer was answered. I felt myself being picked up, followed by the jostle of movement. Suddenly, the light hitting my face started to flicker with a rhythm, and I was aware of a series of continuous thumps. _The chopper,_ I realized. _Did everyone make it, where was Jean, was she dying as well, where was Kelly, I can't see Kelly…_

The last thing I saw was a pair of green eyes.

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	22. I shoot our backup

**Ah… At least 10 to 15 chapters to go at this point… And this chapter is the turning point. Have fun reading…**

**On another note, I started college again. You get the idea.**

Chapter 20 – I shoot our backup

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1230 hours – Eleven-and-a-half hours before the Winter Equinox_

Picture this: You're lying unconscious, completely uncomfortable (not that you would know, of course) and with no awareness of who or what surrounds you whatsoever. You start to slowly wake up, realizing that your _whole fucking body_ hurts like a steamroller passed on top of you while you were lying on a bed of broken glass, and said pain only intensifies as you wake up. Your senses start to wake up as well, letting through the haze a cacophony of sounds and light, jumbled together as your brain tries to make sense of it. Then suddenly-

_Wham!_

The pain on your left shoulder intensifies to the point that it's enough to make your eyes fly open, your back arch, and your mouth let out a scream of pure, undiluted agony as whoever touched you rips their hand off of you.

On top of that, when you recover, a green-eyed, black-haired _moron_ has the decency to actually ask how you're feeling.

Want to know what my answer was?

As soon as I felt slightly better, I gave him my best glare (which reduced him to a pale shiver) and said, "Fuck you, Jackson, fuck you."

"Language!" said the two most beautiful voices in the world. It wasn't until then that I realized that I was wearing a radio helmet, complete with microphone on the front. A different set of green eyes and black hair appeared in my vision, her hand caressing my cheek. Unsurprisingly, the motion caused my no pain as I gave Kelly a small smile.

"Here, drink this," she said, holding a small cup filled with Nectar to my lips. I eagerly drank, the godly drink disappearing in a matter of seconds. The relief was immediate, but I still felt like shit to the point that I didn't even taste the Nectar.

"You look like shit," another voice filtered through the radio.

I managed to croak back an answer. "Understatement of the century," I told Jean. She grinned in response while Kelly un-bandaged my shoulder wound, which had reopened when the Ravager stuck its jaw there.

"When was the last time you had a burst?" asked Jean. I frowned.

"About six months ago, accidental."

She shook her head, "And out of nowhere you decided to run through the full ten seconds? Even I don't do that!"

I smirked, "That's because you're old; ancient even." She just stuck her tongue out at me like the mature female she is. I spoke through the radio again, "How far are we from Vegas?"

Reyna's voice crackled the radio, "We're half-way out of the city. You didn't miss much."

It wasn't until then that I looked around. Kelly was kneeling in front of me, but on my left sat Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Thalia Grace, while across, Nico di Angelo and Hazel Levesque sat together in a whispered conversation as Piper McLean and Jean Collins sat on either side of the underworld siblings, Jean being directly across me with an empty seat to her right. I frowned.

"Who's piloting and where are Frank and Jason?" I asked through the radio.

This time, it was Leo Valdez who answered, "Welcome to Air Valdez, David. Jason and Frank are waiting for us at the rendezvous point; they didn't exactly fit in here, and there wasn't enough time to load them up when we left."

I nodded, and then realized that he couldn't see me, "Thanks Leo."

"Ten-four."

I switched my com to a privacy line, and after signaling her, Kelly did the same. While others wouldn't hear our conversation, we could hear them perfectly.

"How are you?" I asked. Kelly raised an eyebrow as she started to clean my wound once more.

"You're the one that feinted from an adrenaline overdose and got shot, why are you asking me?"

I looked at her, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. Even so, I could tell that she was _not _alright, from the way her hands shook slightly, to the slightly broken look in her eyes. I sighed. _Better now than during a crisis_, I supposed, "You very well now what I'm talking about. How are you dealing with it?"

She stiffened for a moment, hesitating slightly before she answered, "I'm trying not to think about them. Jean told me about her experiences with you, and it helped… though I'm glad that you worry about me. It's like she said: Do unto others as they would do unto you. I realize what would happen if I didn't do what I had to do, but that doesn't mean that I'll take any pleasure from it. I'm just happy that we're together again." She smiled then, an honest, happy smile that lifted my spirits and suddenly made our surroundings much more bearable. I couldn't help but smile back at her as we leaned forward simultaneously, our lips meeting in a sweet, yet brief, kiss. When we separated, she winked at me, green eyes shining with happiness as she returned to my wound – which somehow didn't hurt as much.

"I love you," we said to each other at the same time. I grinned as our lips clashed together once more.

I was pretty sure that I had a goofy smile on my face as we removed the privacy frequency from our radios.

After a few moments, Kelly gave a rare giggle, and I looked at her in surprise. She smirked as she pretty much ruined my reputation, "So… three foot tall midget, huh?"

I blinked as the rest of the group looked at us in confusion. I ignored them as I turned to look at Jean with an expression akin to horror, "You _told _her?"

Jean just burst out laughing, followed by the rest when they figured it out, though I joined after a while. When we calmed down, I gave her a look that promised punishment for her.

"How old were you when this happened?" asked Annabeth with an amused expression. I palmed my face with my left hand, since my left arm was rather occupied.

Seeing as I wasn't going to budge anytime soon, Jean started filling in the blanks, which set off another round of laughter. _Great, my life is ruined._

"Just for that," I said, "You get to be the one that decodes the Cloak's phone." With that, I pulled it out of my iCarry, tossing it to Jean with a smug expression. She sent me a pleading look in response.

"Do you know how long it'll take just to-"

"Of course I know, Jean, why else would I give you the honors?" I grinned. Jean groaned and got started.

"There, all done," said Kelly as she finished dressing my wound.

"Thanks," I gave her a kiss, accepting the small corner of Ambrosia offered afterwards.

Thalia spoke up then, "I'll give you two some space. You can thank me later." After unbuckling her safety harness, she got up, sitting in the empty seat next to Jean while Kelly took her place on my left. I sent the punk girl a thankful look, and she accepted it with a smile as I laced Kelly's fingers with mine.

"David," I raised my head at Reyna's voice.

"Yeah?"

"We can see the parking garage from here; do you want us to land or should we keep flying the chopper out of the city?"

"Land, but keep the chopper. It'll help spot any unwanted company that might be following us."

"Confirmed. Get some sleep."

"You got it, Chief. Jean, you're in charge, call the shots."

"Ten-four."

With that, I decided to get as much rest as I could, slipping an arm around Kelly's shoulders and leaning my head backwards as Kelly leaned into my embrace with a smile, closing her eyes as well.

No matter how short it was, it was the first dreamless sleep in my life.  
….

_20 minutes later…_

After a while, I felt someone shake my shoulder slightly and wake me up, 75% of my pains gone. Kelly was asleep on my shoulder, her face set in a smile, and I couldn't help lean forward and plant a small kiss in her hair. As if she felt it, her smile grew, and I could've sworn she _glowed._

I looked at the person who woke me up. Jean was looking at the two of us with a fond, yet sad smile. Looking around, I saw that Percy, Thalia, Hazel and Annabeth were no longer with us in the chopper.

"When did we…?"

"About thirty minutes ago. We're heading east. I managed to find some interesting data on the phone, but I wanted to wait for you before we do anything." She held up the object in question for emphasis, and I frowned.

"Hit me; what've you got?"

"You're not going to like it."

I raised my eyebrow, "That bad?"

She nodded, "Put a privacy line, will you?" When I complied, she continued, "Turns out that our dear little friend has been in contact with someone in a military base about a hundred miles north of Vegas. "

The prophecy echoed in my head: _To the 51__st__ twelve shall go._

_You have got to be kidding me…_

"You're joking, right?" I asked incredulously.

She shook her head, "I wish I was. There's a bunch of shipping manifests as well, mostly weapons, but of the celestial kind. Looks like the Six have been exchanging celestial bronze and imperial gold ore for a steady supply of BOW's."

"BOW's?"

"Bio-Organic Weapon. They have descriptions as well."

When she described them, I realized something, "The descriptions match the other files that you gave me a few days ago, but how is it that he managed to keep these buried?"

She gave me a helpless look, "I don't know. What worries me is that there's an entire section here dedicated to Ravagers. There's also smaller file called _Experimental Crossovers, _but it only talks about money transfers. Other than that, there's nothing."

I sighed, running my hand through my hair without jostling Kelly. I needn't have worried though.

"So do we have our destination, then?" asked my black-haired beauty.

I looked at her, taking in every detail of her face. I hesitated, taking a moment to answer her, "Yeah… we do." Disengaging the privacy line, I opened the public com.

"Reyna, Leo, ground team, do you copy?"

"We're here," Reyna answered immediately.

"Ground team? Seriously, what's with the army language?" That was Nico.

"Not the time, Nico. What route are you guys taking?"

There was a scuffle, and Annabeth responded this time. "We're on the US-95, about 40 miles out of Vegas," she said.

"All right," I said, "Standby, keep going on that route. Leo, Rey, do you have eyes on them?" I opened the satellite maps on my phone. Thank Hermes for Google Maps.

"Visual confirmed," said Leo. For a joker, he knew when to act seriously.

"Thanks Leo," I answered him as I found the directions I wanted, "All right, here we go. Ground team, I want you to take the exit onto Mercury, understand? Mercury Highway, then Mesa, and finally Gloom Lake road. Repeat, stay on Mercury Highway, then turn into Mesa road, and finally Gloom Lake road. Stop there, and await further instructions."

There was a moment of silence. Percy answered, "Copied. We can see the turn-off."

"Leo, I want you to keep a constant eye on them, understood?"

"Ten-four."

My radio crackled once more, "David, this is Jason, where exactly are we headed?"

I gave the answer, "Area 51."

The resulting silence told me everything about their enthusiasm.  
…

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1250 hours – Eleven hours before the Winter Equinox_

"David?"

I looked up from Kelly, who had her head in my lap while I played with her hair, and answered Leo through the radio.

"What's up?"

"Could you come up here for a second?" I frowned, wondering what was wrong. After I asked, Kelly got up, albeit reluctantly, and I smiled at her before removing my harness and stretching as much as I could, my joints popping and a growl rumbling in my chest. I froze.

That was definitely new.

"David?" Jean called my name, breaking my train of thought. I shook my head, giving her a reassuring smile before entering the cockpit.

"What is it?" I asked Leo. Keeping a hand on the controls, he pointed down at the road.

"Tell me that that car isn't following the others."

I looked at the van he was pointing, and I frowned, observing it, looking at the distance between it and the others and the behavior between the two. Then I saw something _behind_ the van following the ground caravan.

I held a hand to my headset, "Percy, Jason, you've got two tails at your six o'clock; two vans, one silver, one white, but I can't shake the feeling that they look really familiar. Transmit current location, over."

Jason responded immediately, "We're almost to Mesa road, but we might have to get some gas before Area 51. What do we do about the tails, over?"

"Keep going on the current route, I can see a gas station up ahead. If things get nasty, I'll cover you. Keep an eye on them. Stand by for further orders."

"Copy. Over and out."

Moving back into the passenger part of the chopper, I grabbed a special harness that was bolted onto the floor of the helicopter, and after putting it on, I pulled my L115A3 sniper rifle out of my phone. Jean had already figured what I was going to do, but the others (Piper, Kelly and Nico) gave shouts of surprise when I opened the door to the helicopter, sitting on the edge and planting my feet on the landing rail as I looked through the scope.

"All right, no decals or colors on the vans. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say those are Sixes, guaranteed. Head to the gas station, proceed with caution. There may be an ambush set up ahead."

I needn't have worried about that though. The ground team managed to get to the gas station without any issues, but their tails continued to follow them. As soon as the Aston Martin Vanquish and Percy's Maserati Gran Turismo (which had been found at the parking lot rendezvous point) pulled into the gas station, I ordered them to get out and move inside the small store and away from the tanks. They didn't hesitate to obey, and as soon as they were inside, I used the bolt-action sniper rifle.

Fire.

Bolt.

Fire.

Reload, and bolt.

About two seconds later, I was satisfied to see the lead van swerve violently to the right, its actions mirrored by the follow-up. They skidded sideways to a halt, the second van toppling onto its side, and slammed into the other.

_Gods that was satisfying._

"Not bad," said Jean as she peered through some binoculars, admiring my handiwork. Nico was awestruck, while Piper looked worried. Kelly just looked at me.

"When this is all over, you are teaching me. No excuses," she said, narrowing her eyes at me. I laughed.

"Love," I told her between chuckles, "I started that process four months ago."

She blinked in surprise, and I chuckled as I continued peering through the scope. I had been spiking her juice every morning with protein and nutrient enhancers, along with a few specialized compounds that the Sixes developed for Assassin training. It was one of the reasons why she was physically stronger and more agile than the average demigod. However, her full potential wouldn't be unlocked until she received personal training by an expert in the matter, namely me.

I wasn't dumb enough to tell her that, though. She would kill me if she found out about the spiking.

"I'll elaborate on that later, it looks like they're moving," I exclaimed as I saw that the door of the toppled van slide open.

"Don't worry, we're in position, the place was empty," Thalia's voice filtered through the radio, "Just make sure that you take out as many as you can."

"Ten four," I said, and with a grim smile, I peered through the scope once more, preparing to take the shot and spill some blood.

What I saw made me nearly shit my pants.

I pressed my hand to the radio again, "Uh, Thalia… You might want to handle this one. I just shot our backup." I paused, "And uh… by the looks of it, Artemis is pissed. Sorry."

**Will David survive the wrath of the Hunters of Artemis? Will Kelly ever find out about David's meddling with the enhancements? What awaits our quest members at Area 51?**

**Stay tuned to find out.**

**Helios.**


	23. The Unnamed Chapter

**Another chapter. Sorry about the late update, I just had my midterms, and I've been up to my head in books and studying. I'm also slightly disappointed in the lack of reviews, but frankly, at this point it's not surprising, so I've stopped caring. To my few reviewers, I thank you :D You make my day :DDD**

**I would like to mention that I've decided to edit some of the beginning chapters of this story. Some parts just don't fit in anymore, and some of the lines from the quest prophecy don't make sense at all to me, and I wrote the damn thing. In a way, it's a reason as to why I haven't updated.**

**Also, check out my other/new story, a Twilight/PJO crossover. Heroes of Olympus Book 2: Rites of Blood is out on !**

**Here we go!**

**Note: Again, I have no idea how the area's mentioned look like, so I'll just invent once more.**

Chapter 21 – The Unnamed Chapter

_December 20__th__, 2012 –1200 hours – Twelve hours before the Winter Equinox – Camp Half-Blood_

Let it be known to all that Clarisse La Rue was indeed loved by some.

Chris Rodriguez was pissed, to say the least. He was pissed at the fact that he wasn't invited to go on the quest for the cure. He was pissed that he didn't find out about the quest until later that day because he was taking care of Clarisse in the infirmary. He was pissed that the quest was taking so long. He was pissed that Clarisse was getting worse every day. And, he was pissed because some people were starting to declare the quest members MIA after Johnson's disastrous report.

No, pissed didn't begin to describe what he was feeling. He was _enraged._

He sighed. Chiron had kicked him out of the infirmary under the threat that if he spent another minute there he would "hand-scrub the arena _and _the chariot track alone." He was willing to do it, until Chiron mentioned that the Hecate cabin had managed to bring inanimate objects to life. The image that popped in his head in response was the cartoon of Mickey Mouse bringing brooms and cleaning supplies to life.

He politely declined.

In the end, the argument that Chiron used was that there wasn't much to do anyways, that Clarisse needed rest, and that he was merely in the way. "Besides," the centaur pointed out, "the moment Clarisse hears that you've been fawning over her, the girl _will_ take it out on you. She is her father's daughter, after all."

Chris sighed again. It was true that the Daughter of Ares didn't like the attention, but it wasn't reason enough to ease the guilt in his head and heart. Chiron was right though – Clarisse _did _need rest. She would wake up every now and then, but every time was different. Sometimes she was in agony; sometimes it was like she wasn't there at all, and would just gaze at the ceiling no matter how much Chris pleaded.

There were times though, that Chris enjoyed – the times when she would wake up like everything was normal. In those few moments, Clarisse would talk to him like she usually would, revealing a soft side to herself that she never revealed to others. She would allow others to ask how she felt, answering honestly and as best as she could. _I'm fine,_ she would say, _there's nothing wrong with me._ And it was honestly the truth – they could see it in her eyes.

Oh, the first time they believed it was _disastrous._

They had started to walk out of the infirmary when the daughter of Ares stiffened. It was like a switch had been flipped; one moment she was fine, and the next, the red aura of the Blessing of Ares would flicker into existence, along with her rage. It took her whole cabin to subdue her that time.

After that, they, including Clarisse in her next moment of lucidity, agreed that she was _not _fine. She had even gone as far to suggest that they chain her to the bed – a suggestion that was immediately put down by Chris himself.

Shaking his head, Chris entered the infirmary. Clarisse was in the bed farthest from both the window and the infirmary, right in the middle of the room. She was using one of the Apollo cabin's many iPods, but she looked over at him when he walked in. It didn't surprise him anymore, but it definitely worried him, since it meant that the infection was making its changes.

"Hey," she called at him, her voice uncharacteristically soft. It was something Chris loved of her, since she would only speak like that around him.

"Hey," he said with a smile, approaching her bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Better, but I'm not taking any chances," she said. She raised her wrist, and to his horror he saw that she was hand cuffed with a celestial bronze chain to the chain. "It was my decision," she told him firmly, "The last time I lost control I almost broke free from the sedative I almost kill someone."

Chris sighed dejectedly, "Yeah, I know." He sat down on the edge of her bed, grabbing her free hand. "Why don't those fuckers hurry up?"

She scoffed, "They're unreliable punks, what did you expect? If it was just Trigger, Wise Girl and Fish Breath they would've been back here by now, but a group that big is very hard to manage." Chris frowned at Clarisse's nickname for David, but she ignored him, "Plus its his first quest."

"I doubt that. Did you hear about the IM he managed to get to Chiron?" She shook her head no, and Chris proceeded to tell her all the details. When he was done, she frowned.

"By the sounds of it, Trigger _does_ have some experience… you say he was shot?" Chris nodded, "Where?"

"Right shoulder, but it didn't look like he was in much pain," he told her.

"Or he's just used to that type of pain. It's not the first time he's been shot apparently."

Chris frowned, "If that's so, then why do you think that they're taking so long?"

"I don't know, I thought you said-"

"I don't think he was telling the truth. At least, not all of it was true. Then there's the fact of what he was going to say before the message got cut."

Clarisse didn't respond, and they lapsed into silence. After a while, she broke it, "I think he'll be here by either later tonight or tomorrow morning. The prophecy calls for it, so they have no choice but to be done by then. How they'll be back by then is their problem. Now, what's this I hear about you refusing to leave earlier?"

Chris smiled at her, "You know you love it."

"I'm not saying I don't, but I do have a reputation to keep up, remember? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Now get your scrawny ass back out there and stop moping. If I hear good things about you… well, I might just have to give you a reward for all your efforts." Uncharacteristically for Clarisse, she winked seductively at her, and Chris shuddered slightly.

Chris chuckled, "All right, I'll leave, but only because you asked me to."

Clarisse smirked, "Whipped." Nevertheless, she accepted the chaste kiss he delivered. However, it seemed like they both enjoyed their innocent a little too much, and soon her tongue requested entry – entry that was granted. Chris relished the feeling as their kisses got deeper and deeper, Clarisse was starting to reach for his shirt, _Gods,_ the taste of her lips and her tongue… like something… salty… and coppery…

Chris' eyes flew open as he drew back quickly, their lips making a _smack_ at the separation as he stood and moved away from the bed, Clarisse looking confused and hurt. His hand flew to his lips, and when he looked at it, his fingers were stained with blood.

Black blood.

An inhuman screech came from Clarisse as she suddenly lost control and started writhing in her bonds. Horrified, Chris watched as her tongue started to lengthen, turning into the barbed monstrosity that had infected her in the first place. Her hair fell off as her skin became as black as tar, her veins shone with maroon light, and her eyes became as red as her cabin. Her jaw split down the middle as her hands turned into claws and her feet became wolfish in nature.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. A now mutated Clarisse looked at him, and the look in her blood-red eyes made him hesitate.

"Clarisse?" he asked hesitantly.

After a pause, she nodded, awareness crystal-clear in her eyes. Chris didn't move as she brought her hands up, looking at them and turning them in the light. Her gaze traveled down her arms and to the rest of her body. For a moment, she didn't move. Then, her breathing quickened as she started anxiousness and panic started to take over her body.

Chris quickly moved back to the side of the bed and drew her into his arms. More a moment, she stiffened, and then she started to shake as she sobbed. After a few minutes, she calmed down, her breathing slowing as she fell asleep in his arms.

It was in that position that Chiron found them two hours later, Chris keeping his silent vigil as Clarisse slept.  
…..

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 0800 hours – Eleven hours before the Winter Equinox – Nevada_

_Flashes of light and pain danced across my eyes. Images of war and death played themselves away, and I was able to do naught to stop them; I could only watch as Percy, Thalia and Nico fell as an army of Ravagers tore them apart. The scene changed, and this time it was Jean, Annabeth, and Reyna getting gunned down by US Marines. People died in front of me, and I was helpless as Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Clarisse, Travis, Connor, Katie, Rachel all died in front of my eyes._

_And then Kelly's death by my hand flashed before me._

"_Do not fear, for this shall not come to pass." _

_A voice of great power entered my consciousness, brushing away the images and dreams as if they were cobwebs. My head cleared, and in my mind's eye I saw a being of pure light standing in front of me._

"_Who are you?" I asked it. The being chuckled._

"_A friend, a foe, family, enemy: I am everything, and yet nothing. Without me, there would be no balance, but too much of me is destruction. Tell me, what be I?"_

_I pondered the riddle for a moment, "God?"_

_I could feel, rather than see the being smile, "No, though I'm flattered. In time, the answer will come to you, but until then, you may call me Guide." At this, the light diminished, and a man in white robes was revealed. I could not see his hands or his feet, and his face was covered by a hood; however, instead of shadows hiding his face there was a ball of pure white light. Strangely, I wasn't blinded by it – it actually brought comfort instead._

_I frowned, "And what shall you guide me to?"_

"_Enlightenment. Power. Justice. Freedom. Revolution. Darkness. Light. Wherever your path takes you. Wherever you wish to go."_

"_That's not very specific."_

"_No. But since when is the answer worth more than the journey?"_

"_Touché."_

_Guide chuckled, "You are smart, young one. Your path is a difficult one – I see times of conflict ahead of you, but the rewards of peace are to be reaped if you succeed."_

"_Succeed at what?"_

"_Your destiny."_

"_Which is?"_

"_In your future." My eye twitched in response, and Guide chuckled, "I cannot reveal everything, dear boy. It would only spoil the surprise."_

_I sighed, "I guess. Still, I know that this conversation isn't for pleasantries. I still don't know who you are exactly, but I know that if you wanted me dead… well, I can tell you're powerful. Much more powerful than the average god, anyways." I frowned, "What are you?"_

"_Does it matter?"_

"_Not really, I'm just curious… Father." I smirked._

_The being drew back, surprised, "Well done! I am curious as to how you figured that out."_

"_Your power signature. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before, except in one person: me. My powers give off a very distinct signature, and there's something about you… well, it was the obvious assumption."_

_Guide smiled again, "And what if you were wrong?"_

"_I had nothing to lose. Besides, I'm never wrong. So, about the reason you were here…"_

_Guide hummed, "Very well. I come with a warning and a request. The warning is that time grows short, and there are enemies hidden among your friends. However, this enemy is an unintentional one, forced to comply under unnoticed manipulations. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Remember the prophecy: _Evil lurks at the thirteenth._ Use that line to your advantage, and forgive your enemy._

"_Now, the request. When the time of utter need comes, I ask that you to pray to me. The moment will come, and I will grant your request without hesitation. The problem, however, lies in the fact that sacrifice gives power. Be cautious, David, for you are still mortal, and that fact puts you in danger."_

_I nodded, "Thank you, father."_

_Guide smiled, "There is no need. You are my firstborn, David. My first child, and I am proud of you. Remember that."_

_I smiled at the praise. A new question posed itself in my mind, and after a slight hesitation, I asked, "Father, if I may ask… who is my mother? Is she alive?"_

_Guide smiled sadly, "You will find the answer you seek at the end." I nodded; it didn't really surprise me that he wouldn't tell me. Unfortunately, it also fueled a nagging suspicion that had been growing in my mind since reading the CIA agent's files. Guide continued, "I have another bit of advice for you. Protect your loved one. Keep her safe. Life will not be worth living without her._

"_Now wake!"_

_So I did.  
…_

"Have I mentioned how sorry I am?"

The resulting glare from the goddess shut me up quite effectively, at least momentarily. After we discovered my… slight blunder, I instructed Leo to land the chopper at the abandoned gas station, where I proceeded to head over to the overturned vans alone.

Naturally, the Huntresses didn't take too kindly to the fact that their male almost-killer was literally waltzing towards them, and promptly raised their bows and opened fire at me. The resulting man-hunt ended when Artemis was satisfied that they had managed to hit me. The bad part?

They hit my fucking shoulder wound.

_At this rate, I won't be able to heal this thing anytime soon. Hell, I might not even _have _an arm when this is over!_ I thought as Kelly re-bandaged it… again. She had been livid, to say the least, and after unleashing her anger at the poor twelve-year-old that had fired the arrow (at least, she looked like she was twelve; you could never tell with their immortality), she turned on me for "having the brains of a chimpanzee with down syndrome on crack to _actually _get hit _again_."

I'll admit, even I laughed, though the huntresses were literally rolling on the ground and clutching their sides in laughter. _Artemis herself_ was chuckling. Somehow, I knew that if we survived, this story would be repeated more than once around a campfire.

But, I digress. Of course, before the Hunters would even look at me, I had to apologize to Lady Artemis for shooting them. She simply smiled, and accepted the apology. I knew that gods could read minds, so I avoided thinking about the dream with my father. Again, intuition was starting to spike up, and it made me suspicious of the goddess.

_Yank!_

"Ouch!"

"Sorry," said Kelly, not sounding it at all as she finished bandaging my shoulder. I gave a small smile at her tone, wincing slightly at the burning sensation that was starting to announce itself in the wound.

"Are you sure that that arrow wasn't poisoned?" I asked, turning back to Artemis. I wasn't exactly worried, since my time in training made me pretty immune to most common poisons, but that didn't mean that I wasn't affected every now and then.

She frowned, "We do not use such methods when we hunt; it spoils the kill." She stepped closer, and held her hand up, palm forward. "May I?"

I looked at Kelly, who nodded after a moment and moved out of the way. Artemis put her palm against my shoulder, and her hand started to glow. I didn't really feel anything, and the burning sensation started to diminish after a moment.

"Well, your wound is clean, and there is no infection whatsoever or any traces of poison. Did you wash the wound in Nectar?" she asked, looking at Kelly. When she nodded, the goddess removed her hand and proclaimed me "fit for hunting". Whether I was to be the hunter or the hunted, she didn't specify, but I had a pretty good idea which one it was.

Kelly left after that, so I thanked the goddess, promising a future kill in her honor, and she drew back proudly. "It has been many years since I have received an offering of that kind… not since Ancient Times. I thank you, David Johnson, Son of None." I bowed my head in return, even though the "Son of None" comment stung a bit. Artemis continued, "Now, we must repeat the circumstances under which we met, Johnson. Tell me everything."

And I did, starting the telling with one fateful sentence, "I think that there is an entrance to the pit of Tartarus under Area 51, and mortals have been sticking their noses where they don't belong."

Her expression was grave, "Explain."

So I did. I explained how Jean had managed to get me a contract so that I could infiltrate the Six once more. I explained what I had found out after poking around the CIA agent's background, finding the top-secret files that were related to one Dr. Lucas James Walker, a not-so-known scientific expert on genetics – specifically, cloning. It was in those files that I also found the references to Area 51.

"But what leads you to the suspicion of the pit?" asked Artemis.

"Again, the Sixes, and my own intuition," I answered, "In the agent's files there were multiple warnings of different BOW's – Bio-Organic Weapons. The descriptions match a lot of the mythological monsters we face day-to-day. On top of that, there's a huge net of magical interference in the area, to the point that almost the whole state of Nevada is under it. The Lotus Hotel and Casino was also a clue to that as well; where was it getting the power to function? Vegas is practically in the middle of nowhere, with no mythological significance whatsoever. Then there's another clue: the description of a mine, deep down under Area 51. Which reminds me, have you seen anything like this before?"

I pulled the strange ore sample I had found, levitating it in my palm for Artemis to see. She placed her hands next to the ore, not touching it as her hands started to glow.

"Interesting," she said after a moment, lowering her hands, "It has the properties of Celestial Bronze, which my Hunters and I use in our arrows. But, at the same time, there are other properties as well… more sinister ones. I can assume that the metal will also have absorption properties similar to those of Stygian Iron, but it is much more stable than the Imperial Gold Ore the romans like to use so much."

I nodded, filing away the information for future reference. "The ore got me thinking. Hesiod described the pit as being surrounded by a wall of celestial bronze and three-fold layer of night, whatever that means. I mean, think about it. All metals have oxidation properties, except those that are blessed with godly properties. But what happens if you submit the metal to another type of strain, one so evil and twisted that it would erode away the blessings and properties of the metal?" I held up the blood-red ore for emphasis, "I think this is the result. An entirely new metal, mined directly from the corrupted walls that surround Tartarus itself."

I paused, "And since the mortals didn't give it a name, I'll call it Bloodstone Steel. We have Celestial _Bronze, _Imperial _Gold,_ Stygian _Iron,_ and Hunter _Silver._ Now, we have _Steel._ Hopefully we can figure out how to temper and cool the metal successfully; who knows what potentials the ore has." I didn't mention it, but I also chose the name because, frankly, it sounded freaking awesome.

Artemis nodded in agreement, "I agree. I also agree with the unspoken suggestion of closing that pit; Rhea knows we don't need any more high-security escapes from Tartarus. However, I'm afraid that the Hunters and I will not join you in this endeavor. Father has commanded me to assist Camp Jupiter; it appears the situation is… degrading."

I frowned. _This complicates things a bit… _"I assume that you'll be taking Thalia with you as well?"

"I'm afraid so." _Damn. _

I frowned. "I'm going to need her. She could be useful down there – her skill as a hunter is just as good as mine or Jean's, and I also have the suspicion that her talents as a daughter of Zeus will be needed. Are you sure you can't spare her?"

Artemis mirrored my frown, lapsing into silence for a few moments. "Very well," she said, "But please take of her – remember that she is my half-sister, and my lieutenant as well. I do care for her."

I nodded, relieved, "Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets back in one piece. Will the hunters provide cover for us so that we can enter the base?"

"That we will. Many of my Hunters have grudges against your… gender. They will be pleased with today's hunt, I hope."

I raised an eyebrow, "You do realize that there are women in the military, right? There's bound to be more than one woman in the base; are you sure they won't hesitate to take the kill?"

"I will speak with them of the matter, but I doubt there will be many issues. I'll just tell them to pretend that they're Amazons."

"I'm not going to ask."

"Good boy."  
…..

_December 20__th__, 2012 – 1345 hours – Eleven hours before the Winter Equinox_

An unspecified amount of time later found me, Jean, and a couple of Hunters named Kyra and Mila in the Vanquish and driving towards Area 51 to scout and provide covering fire. Artemis had veiled the vehicle with the Mist to confuse all the different security measures in the area so that we could drive to a nearby hill undetected, and would make full use of the protection.

About a mile away from the base, I pulled off the main road. Motioning for the others to get out of the car, I popped open the trunk, revealing the toys gleaming inside after shutting off the engine.

Jean was quick to claim a PSG1A1 semi-automatic sniper rifle, and I grabbed two military-grade binoculars, handing one to Mila and Kyra. I grabbed my L115A3 rifle from the trunk as well, grabbing six ten-round clips of explosive tip rounds as well; including the ammo already loaded in the rifle plus the clips, I would have 71 deaths chalked up by the time we were done.

I turned to the Hunters, "Mila, go with Jean over to that hill. You'll help her by spotting potential targets and pointing them out for her to take out. Use anything that catches the eye for reference so that she can find them. The binoculars can also measure distance and wind speed, but Jean can handle that. Kyra, you're with me. Good luck, and remember the signal."

Mila looked a little disgruntled at being ordered by me, but she and Jean nodded and ran off, Jean in the lead. Kyra looked disgruntled as well, but noticeably less so than Mila. I looked at Kyra with no emotion.

"Let's go." I sprinted in the opposite direction that Jean and Mila had taken, Kyra hot on my heels. The sand and the heat made it slightly difficult to run, especially with my rifle in my hands, but since this had been part of my training, I was more than fine. Kyra was another deal, however. After 10 minutes of running at a dead sprint, she finally called out for me to stop, and I complied. After motioning for her to stay put, I moved towards the top of a nearby hill, lying down on my chest, out of view from anybody at the compound. Putting my rifle against my shoulder and setting it on its tripod on the ground, I crept forward.

The base stretched out for a couple of miles in every direction, the center of it being six miles north of my position. The dried-out Groom Lake was sitting right next to it to the northeast, and there was a massive airfield in the middle of the lake. As for the base itself… it was intimidating, to the say the least. I had seen it a couple of times before in my life, and even then it never gave of a welcoming vibe, so to speak. Ironic really, since some of its military codenames were _Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, Home Base,_ and (the most ironic of them all) _Homey Airport._ Homey, my ass.

It was composed mostly of low buildings and barracks, and several security towers watched over the base in different areas. It had an irregular oval shape, but there was no doubt that it would be a tough cookie to crack. Peering through the scope of my rifle, I was dismayed to find that the base was occupied and well-secured. Each of the towers was three stories high, and had at least four snipers each, all of them armed with M40 USMC standard issue sniper rifles. The good thing was that each tower had a number painted on the side, which would make taking out the guards easier. Unfortunately, some of them had LMG's bolted on the railing.

I heard Kyra lay down on the ground behind me and approach me by dragging herself on her chest. Looking at her, I motioned for her to do it slowly since we couldn't risk moving the sand and blowing our cover. I had even managed to convince the two Hunters to forgo their normal outfit and to wear beige-colored camouflage to blend in better with the desert sand. Jean and I wore the same thing.

After settling herself next to me, Kyra looked through her binoculars and whistled as she saw what we were up against.

"Wow. You guys are in for one crappy assault," she said.

"Tell me about it. How many guards do you see?"

She counted for about half a minute, and frowned, "Around four guards per tower, and there are sixteen towers, plus twelve on the ground. That would be 76 soldiers, ten of them female. I can't see if they're in the barracks, but there's probably fifty more soldiers unaccounted for."

_So little… _"I don't like this. Area 51 is used both as a research and development station for top-secret projects that are on a need-to-know basis. Though 76 is a pretty intimidating number… but still pretty low. I can't see the airfield that well with my rifle, what do you see?"

She fidgeted a little, looking at the airfield. After a few moments, she said, "Three jets, four transport choppers, a couple of Ospreys… You're right, this _isn't_ right. Are you sure you're not being set up or something?"

I stopped looking through the scope, "Oh, we're definitely being set up, there's no doubt about it. Problem is, it's the only lead we have. We've got no other choice but to go in. Besides, I never liked Area 51. Bad memories."

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Care to explain?"

I chuckled, "It's nothing big, just the fact that some of my more… painful surgical enhancements were done here. Like I said, most of their research is top-secret on a need-to-know basis. They have some pretty big projects down there. Take me for example; on top of the fact that I'm a demigod, my bones are reinforced with a small amount carbon fiber, and my nervous system has a higher reaction and recovery rate. Then you also have the modifications they did to my cardiovascular system…" I shrugged, "Needless to say, the operations hurt."

"So… you were a guinea pig?"

"In a sense. At first I had thought that the Sixes were backed up by the US government, but I found out afterwards that they were an independent organization that was hired every now and them by the CIA and the military. The reason they were messing with me was because I was so young, so, money changed hands, and I was experimented on. The research was terminated after a while, and I was so successful to the point that a couple of years later I broke into the base and stole the research, copying it and deleting their copy. I've buried that research; hopefully, it won't have to be used it again."

Kyra frowned, "Why are you telling me this?"

"You asked, I answered. Of course, whether or not I'm spewing bullshit right now is up to you." I smirked at her expression.

Kyra checked her watch, "Almost two o'clock. Why that time exactly?"

"_But beware, evil lurks at the thirteenth,"_ I recited, "Prophecy line. Get ready, we start on the dot." I paused, "Have you ever killed a person before?"

Kyra frowned, "No. I once saw my Lady turn an adult into a jackalope, though."

I sighed, "If you get nauseous, tell me."

She looked indignant, "Just because your male cowardice makes _you _sick-"

"A jackalope is nothing compared to seeing a human being die right in front of you," I glared at her, trying to make my point, "If you feel sick, you tell me so that I cover your retreat, got it?"

She narrowed her eyes at me, so I took her silence as an affirmative. Looking through my scope once more, I determined the pattern in which I was going to take down my targets and memorizing where each tower was located.

_Two minutes till two._

"No silencer?" asked Kyra.

"Reduces distance and messes with the curving of the bullet," I said.

We waited.

_Thirty seconds._

"Remember," I broke the silence as I prepared myself, "call out the targets that look in our direction. Anything more than half-a-mile away is out of range. Anyone else I can take care of."

"Ok."

_Twenty._

_Ten._

Kyra looked through the binoculars, "Umm… what was the signal again?"

I looked at my watch. _Five, four, three, two…_ I looked up at the sound of a chopper starting up. _Leo, perfect timing._

I looked through my scope, "You just heard it."

I pulled the trigger, re-bolted, pulled, re-bolted, pulled and re-bolted. Kyra jumped at the _crack _of each bullet, and she looked through her binoculars. I had already picked my new targets, so I never saw what she did: three men turn in direction of the fired shots, take aim, but die as their chests exploded in an explosion of bone, blood and gore about two seconds after I had fired the bullet that had ended their lives. Simultaneous cracks told me Jean had started firing as well.

"David, tower thirty-three, sniper on the left!"

I aimed at the tower in question, taking quick aim and firing at the female sniper.

"Tower twenty-two, sniper in the middle!"

Another one dead.

And so it went. Ten seconds after we had started our sniper spree, the alarm had been sounded, and the base was now a flurry of activity. I would fire at seemingly random targets, but focus my attention on the ones Kyra would point out. Every now and then my scope would pass over a target, but before I could shoot their chest would explode as Jean's bullet would reach them. My heart was calm, and my attention focused as I took out soldier after soldier.

About a minute into our spree, one of the soldiers had to reach an LMG and had started firing in our direction, but none of the bullets passed near us. I took him out quickly.

"David, one of the choppers is taking off!"

"Noted!" I took careful aim at the chopper in question, firing various times until the rotor engines exploded and the chopper fell back to earth. No survivors.

Two minutes had passed when the snipers finally managed to locate our positions. It made the hunting slightly more difficult, but they would never get the chance to fire before they would die. In other words, the whole ordeal was a slaughter.

Kyra's radio crackled, and Jean's voice filtered through, "Team 1, confirm visual of multiple pilots heading into the jet hangars, over."

Kyra turned her binoculars towards the airfield. "I see them," she spoke into the radio, "but they're out of our range. I'm counting four pilots, over."

"Acknowledged. There's a godsdammed tower in our line of sight. Are you sure you can't make the shot, over?" Kyra looked at me questioningly.

"Point them to me," I told her.

"They're running to hanger 3, four pilots, dressed in desert camo. Use red fuel truck as reference," she said. "Wind speed, 5 kilometers, south to north."

I turned my rifle to the right, and after a moment of looking I found the four pilots. Kyra was right, they were pretty out of range, at least a mile. There would be _a lot _of anticipation on this one. I took a deep breath through my nose, aiming carefully, and slowly released my air through my mouth. Halfway through, I pulled the trigger.

A few seconds later, they were still running.

"I missed," I notified Kyra, "They're too far out of range, I can't hit them from this distance."

Kyra frowned, "Those jets could give you some trouble if they take off."

"You mean us," I deadpanned, "Those rounds can punch through three-inch thick steel at a distance of half a mile. If they aim at us, we're dead before whatever's left of us hits the ground." Kyra paled as I reached for the radio, "Jean, the pilots made it to the hangar, retreat to the Vanquish, over!" I got up from the sand, pulling Kyra up with me.

"Copy that, retreating! Over and out!"

Moving down the hill, I looked at the Hunter in the eye as I pulled her by the arm, "Kyra, we've gotta move or we're dead. Whatever happens, you get to the car. I don't care what you hear or what you see, _you don't stop._ Leave me behind if you have to."

Kyra nodded, and after I placed my rifle back in my phone we set off in a dead run, much faster than the sprint we made when heading to the hill. Then again, death is a pretty good incentive. We reached the car in seven minutes, which wasn't bad when compared to the ten minutes it had taken us originally. Jean and Mila were nowhere to be seen, and I cursed as I popped open the trunk of the Vanquish.

"Jean, where the fuck are you, over?"

A moment, and then, "We're on our way, Mila got hit on the retreat. There's a MANPAD missile launcher under the back seat of the Vanquish, over!"

"10-4," I answered, moving around the car and settling myself into the driver's seat. Looking at the dashboard, I spotted a button near the AC that looked promising. As soon as I pressed it, there was a whirring sound, and the back seat folded upwards.

"Holy shit!" I heard Kyra exclaim, "We were sitting on _that?"_

It was a couple of American FIM-92 Stinger MANPAD missiles. MANPAD stands for Man-portable Air Defense System, which basically means that soldiers facing off against a jet don't need to call in another jet to save themselves – all they had to do was pull out one of these babies, home onto the target, and bye-bye jet.

I wasted no time in prying the Stingers out of their respective slots and handed one of them to Kyra. And just in time too, as I heard the unmistakable sound of a jet taking off.

"Johnson…"

"I hear it."

I loaded the Stinger and looked to the sky. I saw the jet starting to make the turn towards us, and after turning on the tracker on the launcher, I aimed at the jet. The tracker made several quick beeps for a few seconds until there was a final continuous note, and I fired after making sure that Kyra wasn't behind me.

The recoil wasn't too bad, but the missile shooting out of the launcher did startle the Hunter and me. The missile was quick in reaching the jet, and while it tried to dodge, the Stinger flew straight and true, impacting the F-22 Raptor – it was close enough that I could see it – head-on and blowing it to smithereens.

Kyra handed me the other Stinger as the other jet started to appear in my line of vision, making my jaw open in surprise. There was no time for me to lock the other Stinger onto the jet, but thank the gods for small miracles – apparently the jet made the mistake of passing over our camp and it was subsequently struck by lightning. _Hmm… I wonder who could have done _that, I thought sarcastically.

"How in the…" I trailed off in awe at the speed in which the two jets had been in the air.

"It must have been an F-35 Lightning II. They're the only jets used by the US that have vertical take-offs and landings," said Kyra. I just stared at her. "What? I'm a daughter of Hephaestus and a fifth-generation legacy of Zeus, I know these things."

"Right…" I looked at the unfired Stinger in my hands. "Well, I think I'll keep this. It might come in handy." I proceeded to set the Stinger on the ground, and opening the weapons app on my phone, I flashed it in. Checking the app, I was satisfied to see the Stinger in one of the magical storage boxes.

"Handy gadget," said Kyra as Jean and Mila appeared over a nearby hill, Mila with an arm around Jean.

I grinned, "Thanks." I had a Hunter's approval.


End file.
